Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie (11 August 1873 – 2 October 1958) was a French

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

who specialized in the plants of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. He is the nephew of Eugène Pierre Perrier de la Bâthie, (1825-1916), another botanist, who also collected plants with him. He delineated the two chief

floristic province A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both re ...

s of Madagascar (''see'' Ecoregions of Madagascar). Some of his works include ''La végétation malgache'' (1921), ''Biogéographie de plantes de Madagascar'' (1936), and numerous volumes of the serie
''Flore de Madagascar et des Comores''
(1946-1952).

Honours

The

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

genus '' Neobathiea'' (originally ''Bathiea'') was named in his honor, as was the indriid

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 exist ...

Perrier's sifaka Perrier's sifaka (''Propithecus perrieri'') is a lemur endemic to Madagascar. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of diademed sifaka It has a very small range in northeastern Madagascar where its habitat is dry deciduous or semihumid fo ...

(''Propithecus perrieri''). He has other plant genera named in his honour. Such as in 1905, botanist Lucien Désiré Joseph Courchet published ''

Perriera ''Perriera'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Simaroubaceae. It is endemic to Madagascar. The genus name of ''Perriera'' is in honour of Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de ...

'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s from Madagascar, belonging to the family

Simaroubaceae The Simaroubaceae are a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades, it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off. A molecular phylogeny of the family was published in 20 ...

. Then in 1915, botanist Hochr. published ''

Perrierophytum ''Perrierophytum'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Malvaceae. It is native to Mozambique and Madagascar. The genus name of ''Perrierophytum'' is in honour of Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie Joseph Marie He ...

'', a genus of

s from

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and Madagascar, belonging to the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

. In 1924, A.Camus published ''

Perrierbambus ''Perrierbambus'' is a genus of Madagascan bamboo in the grass family. The genus name of ''Perrierbambus'' is in honour of Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie (1873–1958), a French botanist who specialized in the plants of Madaga ...

'',a

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

in the grass family. In 1951,

Alberto Judice Leote Cavaco Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

published ''

Perrierodendron ''Perrierodendron'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Sarcolaenaceae. They are endemic to Madagascar. The genus name of ''Perrierodendron'' is in honour of Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perr ...

'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family

Sarcolaenaceae The Sarcolaenaceae are a family of flowering plants endemic to Madagascar. The family includes 79 species of mostly evergreen trees and shrubs in ten genera. Recent DNA studies indicate that the Sarcolaenaceae are a sibling taxon to the family ...

. Then finally in 1978, ( A.Berger) H.Ohba published ''

Perrierosedum ''Perrierosedum'' is a genus of succulent plants of the family Crassulaceae that is endemic to Madagascar and contains only the single species ''Perrierosedum madagascariense''. The genus name of ''Perrierosedum'' is in honour of Joseph Marie H ...

'',

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

plants of the family

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Crass ...

. Several species of Madagascar plants were also named for him, including ''

Adenia perrieri ''Adenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the passionflower family, Passifloraceae. It is distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics.

'', ''

Adansonia perrieri ''Adansonia perrieri'', or Perrier's baobab, is a critically endangered species of deciduous tree, in the genus ''Adansonia''. This species is endemic to northern Madagascar. It has been documented in only 10 locations, including Ankarana, Ampas ...

'' (or Perrier's baobab), '' Erythrina perrieri'', ''

Ensete perrieri ''Ensete'' is a genus of monocarpic flowering plants native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the banana family, Musaceae, and includes the false banana or enset ('' E. ventricosum''), an economically im ...

'', '' Euphorbia perrieri'', '' Gereaua perrieri'', '' Jumelleanthus perrieri'' Hochr., '' Melanophylla perrieri'', '' Podocarpus perrieri'', ''

Takhtajania perrieri ''Takhtajania'' is a genus of flowering plants of the family Winteraceae, which contains a single species, ''Takhtajania perrieri''. It is endemic to Madagascar. ''Takhtajania'' is found in a small area of the Madagascar subhumid forests. It is ...

'', (originally named ''Bubbia perrieri'') and '' Xerosicyos perrieri''.

References

20th-century French botanists Botanists active in Africa Botanists with author abbreviations 1873 births 1958 deaths {{France-botanist-stub