Auguste Simon Taton (25 January 1914–27 October 1989) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

botanist who worked primarily in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(now known as the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Biography

He was born in

Jemeppe-sur-Meuse Jemeppe-sur-Meuse ( wa, Djimepe-so-Mouze) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Seraing, located in the province of Liège, Belgium. It was a separate municipality before the merging of municipalities in 1977. The inhabita ...

, now a part of

Seraing Seraing (; wa, Serè) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, Ougrée, and Seraing. With Liège, Herstal, Sa ...

, Belgium. Taton graduated from the in 1937 with a degree in

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and s ...

and served in the military from 25 August 1937 to 25 February 1939. From 1941 to 1945 he served as an associate with the (Institute of National Parks of the Belgian Congo), identifying

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (calle ...

specimens collected in Albert National Park, now known as

Virunga National Park Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from in the Semliki River valley to in the Rwenzori Mountains. F ...

. In November 1945 he became the assistant to the Division of Botany at the INEAC (). In 1952, he continued his studies in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

and the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, taking courses in

agrostology Agrostology (from Greek , ''agrōstis'', "type of grass"; and , ''-logia''), sometimes graminology, is the scientific study of the grasses (the family Poaceae, or Gramineae). The grasslike species of the sedge family (Cyperaceae), the rush famil ...

(study of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in law ...

es). From September 1956 to February 1961, Taton was the head of the INEAC station in

Kivu Kivu was the name for a large "region" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko that bordered Lake Kivu. It included three "Sub-Regions" ("Sous-Régions" in French): Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and Maniema, correspon ...

. During his time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he collected 1624 herbarium specimens, which he deposited at the botanical garden in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

() and

Yangambi Yangambi is a town in Isangi Territory, Isangi territory of Tshopo province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Location Yangambi is on the north side of the Congo River and lies on the R408 road which connects it to Kisangani 100 kilometers to th ...

. Beginning in July 1961 Taton worked on the flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Gr ...

at the Belgian Institute for the encouragement of scientific research overseas () and then at the Belgian Ministry of Education and Culture. From April 1963 to June 1966 Taton was used by the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

as a representative in Kivu and Kinshasa and then later placed on an agrostology mission in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

. While in Morocco, he collected nearly 450 herbarium specimens, of which only 51 reached the

National Botanic Garden of Belgium The Meise Botanic Garden ( nl, Plantentuin Meise, french: Jardin botanique de Meise), until 2014 called the National Botanic Garden of Belgium ( nl, Nationale Plantentuin van België, french: Jardin Botanique National de Belgique), is a botani ...

, the rest being lost in transit. He then continued to work on his treatment of the flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, which eventually became his 1972 ''Flora of Central Africa'' (). In July 1971, he was promoted to chief of the section at the Department, focusing on the herbarium collections of tropical Africa. Taton retired on 1 February 1979, though he continued to collaborate on studies on the flora of Central Africa until his death on 27 October 1989 in his home in

Wezembeek-Oppem Wezembeek-Oppem is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, east of the centre of Brussels. The municipality only comprises the town of Wezembeek-Oppem proper. On January 1, 2016, Wezembeek-Oppem had a total population of 14, ...

Personal

Taton was married in 1944 and had three children. At the time of his death, he had nine grandchildren.

Awards

*1955: Gold Medal,

Royal Order of the Lion The Royal Order of the Lion (french: Ordre Royal du Lion; nl, Koninklijke orde van de Leeuw) was established by King Leopold II of Belgium on 9 April 1891, in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State, and was awarded for services to th ...

*1982: Prix E. Laurent award of the

Royal Academy of Belgium The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association which promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies s ...

()

References

*Bamps, P. 1990. Auguste Taton. ''Bull. Jard. Bot. Nat. Belg.'', 60: 3-7.

External links

IPNI profile.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taton, Auguste 1914 births 1989 deaths 20th-century Belgian botanists Botanists active in Africa People from Seraing Royal Order of the Lion recipients University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences alumni