René Louiche Desfontaines (14 February 1750 – 16 November 1833) was a French botanist. Desfontaines was born near Tremblay in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

. He attended the Collège de Rennes and in 1773 went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to study

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

. His interest in

botany 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 w ...

originated from lectures at the Jardin des Plantes given by Louis Guillaume Lemonnier. He excelled in his new interest and was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1783. He was also a member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine. Desfontaines spent two years in

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and

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, returning with a large collection of plants. He wrote ''Flora Atlantica'' (1798–1799, 2 vols), which included 300 genera new to science. In addition, he worked also on ornithology, and presented the findings of his expeditions to Africa for one of the ''Memoires de L'Académie Royale des Sciences''. Although the ''Mémoire'' corresponds to the year 1787, it was not published until 1789 by L'Imprimerie Royal as part of the ''Histoire de L'Académie Royale de Sciences''. The convulsions of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

may have made the access to the text so scarce that in 1880 the ornithologist

Alfred Newton Alfred Newton FRS HFRSE (11 June 18297 June 1907) was an English zoologist and ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Among his numerous publications were a four-volume ''Dictionar ...

republished the original text under the title ''Desfontaines's Mémoire sur quelques nouvelles espèces d'oiseaux des côtes de Barbarie'' on behalf of the Willughby Society of London. In 1786, he was appointed professor of botany at the Jardin des Plantes, replacing Lemonnier. He later became director of the

Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, was one of the founders of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute ...

, president of the

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

, and elected to the Légion d’honneur. During the French Revolution he was appointed to the Commission Temporaire des Arts where he shaped a new vision of Natural History. Desfontaines established a herbarium, known as the ''Flora Atlantica'', which has 1480 specimens and contains many type specimens for Mediterranean species. It was left to the City of Paris after his death. The genera '' Desfontainia'' and '' Fontanesia'' are named for this author. The standard author abbreviation Desf. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or Group epithets must conform to the ''Internat ...

List of works

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References

External links

Works by René Louiche Desfontaines at Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desfontaines, Rene French mycologists French ornithologists Bryologists French phycologists Pteridologists 1750 births 1833 deaths Botanists active in Africa Officers of the French Academy of Sciences Botanists with author abbreviations Foreign Members of the Royal Society 18th-century French botanists 19th-century French botanists