Jean Marchant (1650 – 11 November 1738) was a French botanist. Along with his father Nicolas Marchant, he was responsible for preparing the ''Histoire des plantes'' from 1667 begun under the aegis of the French Royal Academy of Sciences with the support of

Claude Perrault Claude Perrault (; 25 September 1613 – 9 October 1688) was a French physician and amateur architect, best known for his participation in the design of the east façade of the Louvre in Paris.Marchantia ''Marchantia'' is a genus of liverworts in the family Marchantiaceae and the order Marchantiales. The genus was named by French botanist Jean Marchant after his father. The thallus of ''Marchantia'' shows differentiation into two layers: an ...

'' after his father.

Biography

Jean was the son of the botanist Nicolas Marchant (died 1678) and his career was closely linked to that of his father. Nicolas was educated at the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

and trained as an apothecary serving under

Gaston, Duke of Orléans ''Monsieur'' Gaston, Duke of Orléans (Gaston Jean Baptiste; 24 April 1608 – 2 February 1660), was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a . He later acquired the title ...

. He then worked at the botanical garden of the Duke at Blois collaborating with Abel Brunyer, Robert Morison and Jean Laugier. After the death of the Duke in 1660 he served the King and was involved in the founding of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

, serving as the only botanist until

Denis Dodart Denis Dodart was a French physician, naturalist, and botanist. He was born in 1634 in Paris and died on November 5, 1707, in the same city. Biography Childhood and humanist education Denis Dodart was born in 1634 in a Parisian middle class f ...

recruited in 1673. He was given the position of “concierge et directeur de la culture des plantes du Jardin Royal" from 1674. In 1667, a project was begun by the Academy to produce the ' but when Nicolas died, Jean was elected as replacement to the Academy on 18 June 1678 and immediately continued to work on the project at the

Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...

where he also served as director. Support for the project however ended in 1694 and the position at the Jardin was also discontinued. Without a pension, Marchant then continued to work on the project alone and independently but died before he could finish it. Although most of his work was unpublished, the Academy did release about 15 of his writings. His work on “Observations sur la nature des plantes” looked at changes in plants was considered especially important for introducing the idea of changes in plant characteristics from earlier assumptions on the fixity of forms. Marchant described a change in the form of ''

Mercurialis annua ''Mercurialis annua'', annual mercury, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, where it grows on bare, sandy soils. Its seeds are dispersed by harvester an ...

'' in 1715 in the shape of the leaves. Marchant described the species ''

Fuligo septica ''Fuligo septica'' is a species of slime mold in the class Myxogastria, Myxomycetes. It is common name, commonly known as scrambled egg slime or flowers of tan because of its peculiar yellowish appearance; it is also known as dog vomit slime mol ...

''. He named the genus ''

Marchantia ''Marchantia'' is a genus of liverworts in the family Marchantiaceae and the order Marchantiales. The genus was named by French botanist Jean Marchant after his father. The thallus of ''Marchantia'' shows differentiation into two layers: an ...

'' after his father.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, Jean 1650 births Members of the French Academy of Sciences French botanists 1738 deaths