Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot de Beauvois

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Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, baron de Beauvois.

Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, Baron de Beauvois (born July 27, 1752 in Arras , † January 21, 1820 in Paris ) was a French scientist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " P.Beauv. "

Live and act

In 1786, Palisot de Beauvois carried out a research trip that first brought him to Africa . He visited some hitherto largely unknown regions of Benin and sent a large collection of insects and plants to Paris . In 1788 he came to Saint-Domingue (today Haiti ) in poor health . In 1790 he became a member of the colony's Higher Council and actively fought against the end of slavery . In particular, he accused the British philanthropists of taking care of the concerns of blacks, but of accepting the ruin of the colonies . Ruined by the revolts the island experienced, he learned in great poverty in 1793 in Philadelphia that all his collections were lost. In addition, as he was preparing for his return home, he learned that this was forbidden to him due to the French Revolution and that all his property had been confiscated.

To survive, he worked for a while in a circus orchestra, but on the side devoted all of his time to natural history. Thanks to the help of the French ambassador , Pierre Auguste Adet (1763-1832), he was able to make a trip to the interior of North America , where he spent several months with the Indian tribes of the Muskogee and Cherokee . He became a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia , where he shared his observations.

In 1798 he learned that his ban on returning to France had been lifted and returned. In 1806 he replaced Michel Adanson (1727-1806) in the Académie des sciences and in 1815 became a member of the university council.

In plants he was particularly interested in cryptogams and grasses , and in animals in insects .

Taxonomic honor

The genus Palisota Rchb. ex Endl. from the plant family of the Commelina plants (Commelinaceae) and the fern genus Belvisia Mirb. named.

Some works

  • Flore d'Oware et de Benin (1804–1821, 2 volumes, 120 plates).
  • Insectes recueillis en Afrique et en Amérique (1805–1821, 90 plates).
  • Prodrome des cinquième et sixième familles de l'Æthéogamie, les mousses, les lycopodes (1805).
  • Essai d'une nouvelle agrostographie (1812).
  • Muscologie ou traité sur les mousses (1822).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

Web links

Commons : Palisot de Beauvois  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Beauvois, Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beauvois, Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot Baron de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French scientist
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Arras
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 1820
Place of death Paris