Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
botanist known for his Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n studies.
Pierre was born in Saint-André
Saint-André, Réunion
Saint-André is the sixth-largest commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the northeast part of the island of Réunion.-References:*...
, Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, and studied in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
before working in the botanical gardens of Calcutta, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In 1864 he founded the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, which he directed until 1877, after which he returned to Paris where he lived at 63 rue Monge, close to the Paris Herbarium. In 1883 he moved to Charenton, then to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, then (circa 1893) to Saint-Mandé, and finally to 18 rue Cuvier in Paris, where he lived until his death.
Pierre made many scientific explorations in tropical Asia. His publications include the Flore forestière de la Cochinchine (1880-1907), an article "Sur les plantes à caoutchouc de l'Indochine" (Revue des cultures coloniales, 1903) and the section on Sapotaceae
Sapotaceae
Sapotaceae is a family of flowering plants, belonging to order Ericales. The family includes approximately 800 species of evergreen trees and shrubs in approximately 65 genera . Distribution is pantropical....
in the Notes botaniques (1890-1891).
Several genera were named in Pierre's honor: Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (1844-1930) named Pierreodendron
Pierreodendron
Pierreodendron is a genus of plant in family Simaroubaceae. It contains the following species :* Pierreodendron kerstingii, Little...
of the family Simaroubaceae
Simaroubaceae
The Simaroubaceae is a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off...
, and Pierrina of the family Scytopetalaceae; Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier
Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier
Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier was a French botanist, taxonomist, and explorer of tropical Africa, especially of French colonial empire Africa and Côte d'Ivoire. He also explored and collected plants in South America and tropical Asia...
(1873-1956) named Pierreodendron of the family Sapotaceae
Sapotaceae
Sapotaceae is a family of flowering plants, belonging to order Ericales. The family includes approximately 800 species of evergreen trees and shrubs in approximately 65 genera . Distribution is pantropical....
; and Henry Fletcher Hance
Henry Fletcher Hance
Henry Fletcher Hance was a British diplomat who devoted his spare time to the study of Chinese plants. Born in London, his first appointment was to Hong Kong in 1844; he later became vice-consul to Whampoa, consul to Canton, and finally consul to Xiamen, where he died in 1886. In 1873, Hance...
(1827-1886) named Pierrea of the family Flacourtiaceae
Flacourtiaceae
Flacourtiaceae is a defunct family of flowering plants whose former members have been scattered to various other families, mostly to Achariaceae, Samydaceae, and Salicaceae. It was so vaguely defined that hardly anything seemed out of place there and it became a dumping ground for odd and anomalous...
. In 1933 a bust in his honor was dedicated in the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens.