Raymond Benoist (10 June 1881, Vendresse – 17 January 1970) was a French

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 ...

and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. He is known for his research involving the plant family

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae () is a Family (biology), family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are Tropics, tropical Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epip ...

. He studied botany 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 ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1912. Following graduation, he served as an assistant at the

École pratique des Hautes Études École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. In 1913–14 he was sent by the government to

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

to conduct studies of its forests. He later made two scientific trips to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

— the first expedition being to the Middle

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

and the High

Moulouya The Moulouya River (Berber: ''iɣẓer en Melwect'', ) is a river in Morocco. Its sources are located in the Ayashi mountain in the Middle Atlas. It empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Saïdia, in northeast Morocco. Water level in the riv ...

for the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

(1918), and the second trip as an expedition leader for the ''Institut Scientifique Cherifien de Rabat'' (1928). In 1930–32 he taught classes in botany at the medical school in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. During his time spent in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, he conducted phytogeographical research as well as studies in regards to the morphology and biology of plants native to the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

.JSTOR Global Plants
Benoist, Raymond (1881-1970) From 1933 to 1942, he served as a deputy director at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Later on, he was named head of research at the ''Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique'' (CNRS), and in 1949-1952, was director of botanical services at the ''Institut de Recherche Scientifique de Madagascar'' (ORSTOM) in

Tananarive Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

. In 1908 he became a member of the

Société botanique de France The Société botanique de France (SBF) is a French learned society founded on 23 April 1854. At its inaugural meeting it stated its purpose as "to contribute to the progress of botany and related sciences and to facilitate, by all means at its di ...

, being elected as its president in 1947.Prosopo
Sociétés savantes de France As a taxonomist, he described many species within the botanical family

. In the field of entomology, he published a number of works on

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

— along with

Lucien Berland Lucien Berland (14 May 1888 in Ay, Marne – 18 August 1962 in Versailles)Jean-Jacques Amigo, « Berland (Lucien) », in Nouveau Dictionnaire de biographies roussillonnaises, vol. 3 Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre, Perpignan, Publications d ...

, he was co-author of the section on Hymenoptera in Rémy Perrier's "''La Faune de la France en tableaux synoptiques illustrés''" (Tome 7, ''Hyménoptères'').

Selected works

* ''Recherches sur la structure de la classification des acanthacées de la tribu des barlériées'', 1912. * ''Mission d'études forestières envoyée dans les colonies françaises par les ministères de la guerre de l'armement et des colonies'', 1920 (co-author). * ''Les bois de la Guyane Française'', 1933. * ''Catalogue des plantes de Madagascar: Acanthacées'', 1939. * ''Descriptions de nouvelles acanthacées malgaches'', 1943.OCLC WorldCat
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benoist, Raymond 1881 births 1970 deaths People from Ardennes (department) 20th-century French botanists French entomologists Hymenopterists National Museum of Natural History (France) people 20th-century French zoologists