Jussieu, Antoine Laurent de


Jussieu, Antoine Laurent de

 

Born Apr. 12, 1748, in Lyon; died Sept. 17, 1836, in Paris. French botanist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1782). Nephew of B. de Jussieu. Director of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris from 1770 to 1826.

Jussieu developed the first natural system of plant taxonomy (1789), an important stage in the history of classification. He arranged plants in ascending order, beginning with algae and fungi and ending with flowering plants, and introduced the concept of family into botany. He subscribed to the view that species are invariable.

WORKS

Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita. Paris, 1789.

REFERENCE

Stafleu, F. A. Introduction to Jussieu’s “Genera plantarum.” Weinheim, 1964.