Lucien Sabourin (1904–1987) was a French botanist best known for his work with the City of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

parks department. An

autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

, Sabourin initially worked as a gardener with

Vilmorin-Andrieux Vilmorin is a French seed producer. The company has a long history in France, where it was family-controlled for almost two centuries, and today exists as a publicly traded company owned principally by agro-industrial cooperative Groupe Limagr ...

, rising to the rank of Head of Cultures. Sabourin left Vilmorin in 1931 to become Head of Studies of the Municipal School of Horticulture at Breuil, where he also reorganized the collections and library. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Sabourin gained the rank of Engineer, and in 1959 was appointed director of the 'Florist Municipal de la Porte d'Auteuil' (:City of Paris Dept. of Plant Production). He was for a long time treasurer of the

National Horticultural Society of France The National Horticultural Society of France (French: ''Société nationale dhorticulture de France'', or SNHF) is a horticultural society founded in 1827 by Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury. Headquartered in Paris, it comprises specialized depa ...

, before becoming its librarian, also directing the French TV series 'Cultivons notre jardin' (Let's Cultivate Our Garden'). A keen writer, he reviewed Mottet's books on carnations Mottet, S. J., (1929). ''Les œillets; historique, description des principales espèces, races et variétés'' Librairie et imprimerie horticoles, 1929. Paris and climbing plants. However, Sabourin is known internationally only as the author of the name ''Buddleja fallowiana'' var. ''alba''. Sabourin, L. (1929). Buddleja fallowiana var. alba. ''Revue Hort.'' (Paris): 101: 418. 1929.Phillips, R. & Rix, M. (1989). ''Shrubs''. Pan Garden Plant Series. Pan Books, London. Sabourin was appointed an Officer in l'Ordre National du Mérite in 1969, and also awarded the Gold Medal of the City of Paris.Lejeune, D. (2012). Lucien Sabourin. ''La Société Nationale d'Horticulture de France'', Reponds, 03/03/2102, Paris.

Publications

*Sabourin, L. (1929). Buddleja fallowiana var. alba. ''Revue Hort.'' (Paris): 101: 418. 1929.

References

External links

1904 births Botanists with author abbreviations 20th-century French botanists 1987 deaths {{France-botanist-stub