Alexandre Boreau (March 15, 1803 – May 5, 1875) was a French

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

and

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 ...

. He is the binomial authority of plants such as ''

Polygonum arenastrum ''Polygonum arenastrum'', commonly known as equal-leaved knotgrass, is a summer annual flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae. Other common names include common knotweed, prostrate knotweed, mat grass, oval-leaf knotweed, stone gr ...

'' and ''

Pulmonaria longifolia ''Pulmonaria longifolia'', (Narrow-leaved Lungwort) is a semi-evergreen clump-forming herbaceous perennial plant, native to western Europe, including Britain, France, Spain, Portugal. It grows in semi-shaded habitats, such as woodland and scrub, ...

''.

Biography

Boreau was born in

Saumur Saumur () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc.. Saumur statio ...

, in the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-e ...

on March 15, 1803. His father was a laborer, and upon his father's death, Boreau worked at baths established on the quay of the Loire, upstream of the Cessart bridge. Still a boy, Boreau came under the protection of his godfather Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars, an admiral. Boreau was able to study humanities at the college of Saumur. In 1820, he began training to be a

while working in a dispensary in Angers. Within the framework of these studies, he developed an interest in botany, and he enrolled in courses and studied at the jardin des plantes d'Angers. After his marriage to Antoinette Morin, in 1828, he opened a dispensary in Nevers. He devoted himself to botany and research. He collaborated with Count Jaubert, Minister of Louis Philippe, who shared Boreau's passion for botany. A plant discovered in Central Asia is dedicated to him, the ''

Boreava orientalis ''Isatis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to the Mediterranean region east to central Asia. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from the ancient Greek word for the plant, ἰσάτις. The genus includes woad (''I ...

''. In 1840, Boreau published the first edition of his ''Flore du Centre de la France'' (''Flora of Central France''), a model of precision which becomes a noted reference book at the time (2nd edition in 1849, 3rd in 1857). He kept busy at his town botanical garden, reorganizing the classifications and assisting in giving public courses. He published many works, in particular within the framework of the Academic Company of

. Upon his death on May 5, 1875, his widow Antoinette Morin established a herbarium in his memory. It was later bought by the local government and today maintained in the house of Gaston Allard.

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boreau, Alexandre 19th-century French botanists French pharmacists 1803 births 1875 deaths People from Saumur