Louis Claude Marie Richard (19 September 1754 – 6 June 1821) 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

botanical illustrator Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species. They are generally meant to be scientifically descriptive about subjects depicted and are often found printed alongside a botanical description in boo ...

Biography

Richard was born at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. Between 1781 and 1789 he collected botanical specimens in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. On his return he became a professor at the École de médecine 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 ...

. His books included ''Demonstrations botaniques'' (1808), ''De Orchideis europaeis'' (1817), ''Commentatio botanica de Conifereis et Cycadeis'' (1826) and ''De Musaceis commentatio botanica'' (1831). He gave us the special description terminology for the orchids, such as

pollinium A pollinium (: pollinia) is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in plants such as orchid Orchids are plants tha ...

and

gynostemium The column, or technically the gynostemium, is a reproductive structure that can be found in several plant families: Aristolochiaceae, Orchidaceae, and Stylidiaceae. It is derived from the fusion of both male and female parts (stamens and pistil ...

. The genus ''Richardia''

Kunth Carl Sigismund Kunth (18 June 1788 – 22 March 1850) was a German botanist. He was also known as Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth. He was one of the early systematic botanists who focused on studying the plants of th ...

, (

Araceae The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also ...

) was named in his honor. It is now a synonym of the genus ''

Zantedeschia ''Zantedeschia'' () is a genus of eight species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants in the aroid family, Araceae, native to southern Africa (from South Africa northeast to Malawi). The genus has been introduced, in some form, on every con ...

''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Rich. when

citing A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

. His son was another notable botanist,

Achille Richard Achille Richard was a French botanist, botanical illustrator and physician (27 April 1794 in Paris – 5 October 1852). Biography Achille was the son of the botanist Louis Claude Richard, Louis-Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821). He was a p ...

. He also discovered Morgat in the 1880s.

Eponyms

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of Caribbean lizard, '' Anolis richardii'', is named in honor of Louis Claude Richard. A species of Caribbean snake, '' Typhlops richardii'', is named in honor of either Louis Claude Richard or his son Achille Richard.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Richard, A. and L.C.M.", p. 220).

Note

: Other botanists called Richard are: *

(1794–1852), his son (A.Rich.) *

Jean Michel Claude Richard Jean Michel Claude Richard (16 August 1787 – 1868) was a noted French botanist and plant collector active in Senegal, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Réunion, and a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. Richard was born in Volon, Haute-Saône. He ...

(1787–1868) (J.M.C.Rich.) *

Olivier Jules Richard Olivier Jules Richard (22 March 1836 – 7 January 1896) was a French botanist, mycologist and lichenologist who published on the anatomy and symbiosis of lichens. A native of La Mothe-Saint-Héray, he studied law in Paris. He later served as '' ...

(1836–1896) (O.J.Rich.) * Claude Richard fl. (C.Rich) * Joseph Herve Pierre Richard (J.H.P.Rich.)

Biography

Eponyms

Note

References

Further reading