Théophile Alexis Durand (4 September 1855, in
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode ( French, ) or Sint-Joost-ten-Node ( Dutch, ), often simply called Saint-Josse in French or Sint-Joost in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part o ...
– 12 January 1912) was a Belgian
botanist
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
.
He studied
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
at the
University of Liège
The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French.
History
The university was foun ...
, afterwards travelling to
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, where he befriended botanist
Henri François Pittier
Henri François Pittier de Fabrega (August 13, 1857 in Bex, Switzerland – January 27, 1950 in Caracas, Venezuela) was a Swiss-born geographer and botanist who started Venezuelan National Park history.
Biography
He graduated as an engineer f ...
, with whom he collaborated on studies of Swiss flora. When Pittier later moved to
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
, he provided Durand with dried specimens for study purposes.
[Botanic Garden Meise, History]
biography Both together edited the
exsiccata
Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...
-like series ''Plantae Costaricenses exsiccatae''. Beginning in 1879, he was associated with the
National Botanic Garden of Belgium
Meise Botanic Garden (; ), until 2014 called the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (; ), is a botanical garden located in the grounds of Bouchout Castle in Meise, Flemish Brabant, just north of Brussels. It is one of the world's largest botan ...
, where in 1901, he succeeded
François Crépin
Fran̤ois Cr̩pin (30 October 1830 Р30 April 1903) was an important botanist of the 19th century and director of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium.
Crépin was born in Rochefort, Belgium. The genus '' Crepinella'' (Araliaceae) is name ...
as its director. In 1910 he was appointed president of the
International Botanical Congress
International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of Botany, botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the locatio ...
, held in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
.
[Zürcher Herbarien, Universität Zürich]
biographical information
With his daughter, illustrator Hélène Durand, he published "Sylloge Florae Congolanae" (1909).
[ He also made significant contributions to the "Index Kewensis" (first supplement, 1901–1906). Some plants with the specific epithet of ''durandii'' commemorate his name, an example being '' Celtis durandii'' (family ]Cannabaceae
Cannabaceae is a small family of flowering plants, known as the hemp family. As now circumscribed, the family includes about 170 species grouped in about 11 genera, including '' Cannabis'' (hemp), '' Humulus'' (hops) and '' Celtis'' (hackberri ...
).[
]
Selected works
* ''Catalogue de la flore liégeoise'', 1878.
* "Index generum phanerogamorum", 1888.
* "Primitiae florae costaricensis", 1891–1901 (with Henri François Pittier).
* ''Matériaux pour la flore du Congo'', 1897–1901 (with Émile Auguste Joseph De Wildeman
Émile Auguste Joseph De Wildeman (19 October 1866, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode – 1947) was a Belgian botanist and phycologist. He is known for his investigations of Congolese flora.
From 1883 to 1887, he studied pharmacy at the Université lib ...
).
* "Conspectus floræ Africæ, ou Énumération des plantes d'Afrique", 1895–1898 (with Hans Schinz
Hans Schinz (6 December 1858 – 30 October 1941) was a Swiss explorer and botanist who was a native of Zürich.
In 1884 he participated in an exploratory expedition to German Southwest Africa that was organized by German merchant Adolf Lüd ...
).
* "Sylloge florae congolanae hanerogamae 1909.OCLC WorldCat
published works
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durand, Theophile Alexis
1855 births
1912 deaths
People from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
19th-century Belgian botanists
20th-century Belgian botanists