Pierre Edmond Boissier (25 May 1810

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

– 25 September 1885

Valeyres-sous-Rances Valeyres-sous-Rances (, literally ''Valeyres under Rances'') is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Geography Valeyres-sous-Rances has an area, , of . Of this area, or 81.6% is used for ...

) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

prominent botanist, explorer and mathematician. He was the son of Jacques Boissier (1784-1857) and Caroline Butini (1786-1836), daughter of Pierre Butini (1759-1838) a well-known physician and naturalist from Geneva. With his sister, Valérie Boissier (1813-1894), he received a strict education with lessons delivered in Italian and Latin. Edmond's interest in natural history stemmed from holidays in the company of his mother and his grandfather, Pierre Butini at

. His hikes in the Jura and the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...

laid the foundation of his zest for later exploration and adventure. He attended a course at the

Academy of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

given by

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

. Edmond Boissier collected extensively in Europe, North Africa and western Asia, on occasion accompanied by his daughter, Caroline Barbey-Boissier (1847-1918) and her husband,

William Barbey William Barbey (1842–1914) was a Swiss botanist and politician. William Barbey was born on 14 July 1842 at Genthod in the canton of Geneva. He studied science at the Academy in Geneva and then engineering at the École Centrale de Paris. From ...

(1842-1914), who collected in their own right for their ''Herbier Barbey-Boissier'' in Geneva. Edmond Boissier covered countries such as France, Greece, Italy, Norway,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, Spain, Balearic Islands, Switzerland,

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

, Egypt,

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

, Armenia,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

, Jordan,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, Syria and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. His specimens are held at the following herbaria: AK, AWH, B, BERN, BM, BORD, BP, BR, C, CAS, CGE, CN, DBN, E, E-GL, F, FABR, FI, FR, G, GE, GH, GOET, H, HAL, JE, K, KIEL, L, LAU, LE, LY, LZ, M, MA, MANCH, MEL, MICH, MO, MPU, OXF, P, P-CO, PH, PI, STR, TCD, TO, W, WAG, WB (see List of herbaria). He was the first to describe '' Allochrusa, Sclerocephalus, Jancaea, Prolongoa, Psychrogeton, Heteroderis, Myopordon, Aphanopleura, Ammiopsis, Crenosciadium, Diplotaenia, Ducrosia, Margotia,

Lisaea Lisaea or Lisaia ( grc, Λίσαια), also Lisae or Lisai ( grc, Λίσαι), was an ancient Greek polis (city-state) in the Chalcidice, ancient Macedonia. It is cited by Herodotus as one of the cities—together with Lipaxus, Combreia, Gigon ...

Ormosciadium ''Ormosciadium'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley ...

Polylophium ''Laser'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native from Europe to northern Iran. The genus was first described in 1799. Species , Plants of the World Online accepted the following species: *'' Laser affine'' (Ledeb.) Wojew. ...

Microsciadium ''Microsciadium'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. Its sole species is ''Microsciadium minutum'', native to the eastern Aegean Islands and Turkey. The genus was first described by Pierre Edmond Boissier Pierre E ...

Rhabdosciadium ''Rhabdosciadium'' is 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, v ...

, Smyrniopsis,

Stenotaenia ''Stenotaenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or ...

Thecocarpus ''Thecocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus '' Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsle ...

Trigonosciadium ''Trigonosciadium'' is a genus in the family Apiaceae. '' Trigonosciadium brachytaenium'' is endemic to Iran, whereas ''T. tuberosum'' and ''T. viscidulum'' grow in Iran, Anatolia and Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=� ...

Rhizocephalus ''Rhizocephalus'' is a genus of plants in the grass family, Poaceae. The only known species is ''Rhizocephalus orientalis'', native to Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, AsiaticTurkey, and Uzbeki ...

, Coluteocarpus, Diceratella, Didymophysa,

Eremobium ''Eremobium'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers ...

, Graellsia,

Heldreichia ''Heldreichia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae. The only species is ''Heldreichia bupleurifolia''. Its native range is the eastern Mediterranean. It is found in the countries of Lebanon-Syria, Palest ...

Nasturtiopsis ''Nasturtiopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the cruci ...

Parlatoria ''Parlatoria'' is a genus of scales and mealybugs in the family Diaspididae Diaspididae is the largest family of scale insects with over 2650 described species in around 400 genera. As with all scale insects, the female produces a waxy protec ...

, Physoptychis, Tchihatchewia,

Paracaryum ''Paracaryum'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Its native range is Egypt to Central Asia and Western Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of t ...

Podonosma ''Podonosma'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. ...

Dorycnopsis ''Dorycnopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,Erophaca,

Acantholimon ''Acantholimon'' (prickly thrift) is a genus of small flowering plants within the plumbago or leadwort family, Plumbaginaceae. They are distributed from southeastern Europe to central Asia and also in South America, but also cultivated elsewhere ...

, Goniolimon'' and many more plant

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

and

taxa In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

Standard author abbreviation

List of selected publications

* * * * * * * *

Eponymy

* The plant

, '' Boissiera'' and also ''

Petroedmondia ''Petroedmondia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Apiaceae. It only contains one known species, Petroedmondia syriaca. It is native to Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. The genus name of ''Petr ...

'' (the family

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus '' Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plant ...

), are named in his honour. * He is honoured in the plant

of; ''

Asperula boissieri ''Asperula'', commonly known as woodruff, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It contains 194 species and has a wide distribution area from Europe, northern Africa, temperate and subtropical Asia to Australasia. Species * ' ...

'', '' Carthamus boissieri'', '' Colchicum boissieri'', ''

Cordia boissieri ''Cordia boissieri'' is a white-flowered, evergreen shrub or small tree in the borage family (Boraginaceae). Its native range extends from southern Texas in the United States south to central Mexico. Common names include anacahuita, Mexican olive ...

'', '' Convolvulus boissieri'', ''

Euphorbia boissieri ''Euphorbia boissieri'' is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. A political crisis in 2009 also plung ...

'', ''

Haplophyllum boissieranum Haplophyllum may refer to: * ''Haplophyllum'' (millipede), a genus of millipedes in the family Julidae Julidae is a family of millipedes in the order Julida, containing more than 600 species in around 20 genera. Its members are largely confined ...

'', ''

Iris boissieri ''Iris boissieri'' (also known as the yellowbeard iris), is a species in the genus ''Iris'', it is also in the subgenus Xiphium. It is from Europe, mainly Spain and Portugal. It has blue-purple (or deep purple) flowers with a yellow beard. Desc ...

'', ''

Pyrus boissieriana ''Pyrus boissieriana'', the Boissier pear and telka, is a species of ''Pyrus'' (pear) native to the Kopet Dag region on the Turkmenistan and Iranian border. In its native locales it is cultivated as a rootstock for domestic pears. ''Pyrus boiss ...

'', '' Thymus boissieri'', ''

Trifolium boissieri Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus h ...

'' and ''

Verbascum boissieri ''Verbascum'' is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean. Mullein or "mullein le ...

''. * As well as; the bacterium '' Acinetobacter boissieri'', the air-breathing land snails ''

Sphincterochila boissieri ''Sphincterochila zonata zonata'' is a subspecies of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Sphincterochilidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Sphincterochila zonata zonata (Bourguignat, 18 ...

, Aceria boissieri'' ( gall mites) and the

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...

'' Bithynia boissieri'' are some of the animal species named after him. * ''Boissiera'' is the title of a collection of systematic botany memoirs published by the Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève (CJB).

References

External links

*
Historical Orchid LiteratureEssay on Boissier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boissier, Pierre Edmond Botanists with author abbreviations 19th-century Italian botanists 1810 births 1885 deaths Taxon authorities of Hypericum species Scientists from Geneva Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Natural history of Palestine (region) Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities