Pierre Edmond Boissier (25 May 1810

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 ...

– 25 September 1885 Valeyres-sous-Rances) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

prominent

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 ...

, 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 Valeyres-sous-Rances. His hikes in the Jura and the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

laid the foundation of his zest for later exploration and adventure. He attended a course at the Academy of Geneva given by Augustin Pyramus 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 (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,

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, Spain, Balearic Islands, Switzerland,

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, Egypt,

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, Armenia, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and

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. 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, NY, OXF, P, P-CO, PH, PI, STR, TCD, TO, W, WAG, WB (see

List of herbaria This is a list of active herbaria, organized first by continent where the herbarium is located, then within each continent by size of the collection. The list is based on the Index Herbariorum, a global directory of herbaria and their associated st ...

). He was the first to describe '' Allochrusa'', '' Sclerocephalus'', '' Jancaea'', '' Prolongoa'', '' Psychrogeton'', '' Heteroderis'', '' Myopordon'', '' Aphanopleura'', '' Ammiopsis'', '' Crenosciadium'', '' Diplotaenia'', '' Ducrosia'', '' Margotia'', '' Lisaea'', '' Ormosciadium'', '' Polylophium'', '' Microsciadium'', '' Rhabdosciadium'', '' Smyrniopsis'', '' Stenotaenia'', '' Thecocarpus'', '' Trigonosciadium'', '' Rhizocephalus'', '' Coluteocarpus'', '' Diceratella'', '' Didymophysa'', '' Eremobium'', '' Graellsia'', '' Heldreichia'', '' Nasturtiopsis'', '' Parlatoria'', '' Physoptychis'', '' Tchihatchewia'', '' Paracaryum'', '' Podonosma'', '' Dorycnopsis'', '' Erophaca'', '' Acantholimon'', '' Goniolimon'' and many more plant genera and taxa.

Standard author abbreviation

List of selected publications

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Eponymy

* The plant genera, '' Boissiera'' and also '' Petroedmondia'' (the family Apiaceae), are named in his honour. * He is honoured in the plant taxa of; '' Asperula boissieri'', '' Carthamus boissieri'', '' Colchicum boissieri'', '' Cordia boissieri'', '' Convolvulus boissieri'', '' Euphorbia boissieri'', '' Haplophyllum boissieranum'', '' Iris boissieri'', '' Pyrus boissieriana'', '' Thymus boissieri'', '' Trifolium boissieri'' and '' Verbascum boissieri''. * As well as; the bacterium '' Acinetobacter boissieri'', the air-breathing

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

s '' Sphincterochila boissieri, Aceria boissieri'' ( gall mites) and the

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks that 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 t ...

'' 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