Palisot de Beauvois

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

Life and work

1786 led Palisot de Beauvois by a research trip that first brought him to Africa. He visited some of the then largely unknown regions of Benin and sent a large collection of insects and plants to Paris. In 1788 he got the best of health to Saint -Domingue (now Haiti). In 1790 he became a member of the Higher Council of the colony and actively opposed the end of slavery. He accused the British philanthropists in particular, to look after the interests of blacks, but to take the ruin of the colonies approvingly. Ruined by the revolts shaking the island, he learned 1793 in Philadelphia in the greatest poverty, that all his collections were lost. In addition, it is known in the preparation of his return that he was forbidden to this reason the French Revolution and all his property was confiscated.

To survive, he spent some time working in a circus orchestra, but at the same time devoted all his time to the natural history. Thanks to the help of the French Ambassador, Pierre Auguste Adet (1763-1832), he succeeded to perform a journey into the interior of North America, where he spent several months with the Indian tribes of the Muskogee and Cherokee. He was a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, where he described his observations.

In 1798 he learned that his return to France ban was lifted, and went out back. In 1806 he replaced Michel Adanson ( 1727-1806 ) at the Academy of Sciences and in 1815 a member of the Council of the University.

He is particularly interested in the plants was the cryptogams and the grasses, the animals insects.

Taxonomic ceremony

He was the genus Palisota Rchb honor. ex Endl. the plant family of Commelina family ( Commelinaceae ) named.

Some works

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