Eugène Bourgeau (1813–1877) was a French naturalist. He was native of Brizon in the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...

in France.

Biographical information

As a young man, he worked at the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, where his influences included

Nicolas Charles Seringe Nicolas Charles Seringe (3 December 1776 – 29 December 1858) was a French physician and botanist born in Longjumeau. He studied medicine in Paris, and subsequently served as a military surgeon. In this role, he was involved in the German campai ...

and Claude Thomas Alexis Jordan.Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists
edited by Keir Brooks Sterling In 1843 he relocated to Paris, where he was hired by

Philip Barker Webb Philip Barker Webb (10 July 1793 – 31 August 1854) was an English botanist. Life Webb was born to a wealthy, aristocratic family; his father was the lord of the manors of Witley and Milford, Surrey, Milford, in Surrey, England. Webb was ...

as a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

assistant. In 1845-46 he collected plants for the "Webb collection" in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

.JSTOR Global Plants
(biography of Bourgeau) He had previously been a botanical collector in Spain, North Africa and the

before joining the British North American Exploring Expedition of western Canada from 1857 to 1860. In Canada, he collected botanical specimens north of

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

and areas around

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg () is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its southern end is about north of the city of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake and the third- ...

, also journeying down the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: , "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining of the North Saskatchewan River and South Saskatchewan River just east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan ...

and venturing into the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. Mt Bourgeau near Sunshine Village in

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

bears his name. Later expeditions included two trips to

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

(the

Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...

region and the

Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (, meaning 'North Anatolian Mountains'), form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the "Parhar Mountains" in the local Turkish and Pontic Greek languages. The term ''Parhar'' ...

), a journey to Spain and the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

(1863), a scientific mission to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

(1865–66), and in 1870, a trip to the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. Bourgeau did not publish any botanical literature. He distributed more than ten numbered and unnumbered series of duplicate specimens with labels often printed using an early type of duplicating machine. The specimen works are the results of his expeditions. They superficially resemble exsiccatae and are now located in major herbaria with titles like ''Plantes Canarienses 1845-1846'', ''Env. de Toulon'', ''Plantes d'Espagne 1851'' and ''Plantae Armeniacae 1862''.Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2025 ''IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae''. Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany. He reportedly was a terrible speller and grammarian.

Patronyms

The name of Eugène ''Bourgeau'' is commemorated with Mount Bourgeau, a peak located in

. In honor of him, several taxonomic patronyms were also given in plants: * the genus '' Bourgaea'' was named by

Ernest Cosson Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (22 July 1819 – 31 December 1889) was a French botanist born in Paris. Cosson is known for his botanical research in North Africa, and during his career he participated in eight trips to Algeria. In several of these ...

.Index Nominum Genericorum database
Bourgaea - Smithsonian Institution * the species names '' Anthemis bourgaei'', '' Bupleurum bourgaei'', '' Muscari bourgaei'', ''

Onosma bourgaei ''Onosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. They are native to the Mediterranean and western Asia. They grow in dry, sunny habitats with rocky, sandy substrates.Koyuncu, O., et al. (2013)A new ''Onosma'' (Boraginaceae) s ...

'', '' Phlomis bourgaei'', '' Quercus bourgaei'', and '' Tillandsia bourgaei''.

References

External links

Western Canadian History site
French explorers of North America Explorers of Canada 19th-century French botanists People from Haute-Savoie 1813 births 1877 deaths {{France-botanist-stub