Nicolas Charles Seringe (3 December 1776 – 29 December 1858) was a French physician and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

born in

Longjumeau Longjumeau () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne department, France. It is located south from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Inhabitants of Longjumeau are known as ''Longjumellois'' () in French. History Longjumeau Party Sch ...

. He studied medicine in

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 ...

, and subsequently served as a military

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

. In this role, he was involved in the German campaign under General

Jean Victor Marie Moreau Jean Victor Marie Moreau (, 14 February 1763 – 2 September 1813) was a French general who helped Napoleon Bonaparte rise to power, but later became his chief military and political rival and was banished to the United States. He is among the f ...

(1763-1813). Afterwards, he left the army and relocated to

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, where he developed an interest in botany. From 1801 to 1820, he taught classes in Bern. He started to edit exsiccatae and exsiccata-like works distributing dried specimens in sets, among others ''Saules de la Suisse'' (1805–1814) and ''Collection des familles algues, champignons, hypoxylons, lichens'' (1809).Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2025 ''IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae''. Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany. Some of these series are mainly issued for educational purposes, for example the series ''Souvenir de la Suisse ou collection de plantes choisies des Alpes'' (~ 1825). One of his students was Ludwig Schaerer, who later became a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

and lichenologist. Seringe followed with teaching similar duties in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

(1820–1830).BHL
Taxonomic literature : a selective guide to botanical publications In 1830 he was named the director of the ''Jardin de Plantes de Lyon'', and from 1834 he taught classes at the

University of Lyon The University of Lyon ( , or UdL) is a university system ( ''ComUE'') based in Lyon, France. It comprises 12 members and 9 associated institutions. The 3 main constituent universities in this center are: Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, which f ...

. Seringe belonged to several learned societies, including the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, of which he was a founding member. Among his written efforts were an 1815

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

willows Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

native to Switzerland, a treatise on Swiss

cereal grain A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize (Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, suc ...

s titled "''Monographie des céréales de la Suisse''" (1818) and a work on cereal grains of Europe called "''Descriptions et figures des céréales européennes''" (1841). The genus '' Seringia'' is named in his honor.

References

Societies Savantes de France
(translated biography and bibliography) 1776 births 1858 deaths Academic staff of the University of Lyon 19th-century French botanists 19th-century French physicians 18th-century French physicians {{France-med-bio-stub

See also

References