Étienne Pierre Ventenat

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Étienne Pierre Ventenat(1 March 1757 – 13 August 1808) was a Frenchbotanistborn inLimoges.He was the brother ofnaturalistLouis Ventenat(1765–1794).

Clerodendrum viscosum,Jardin de La Malmaison

While employed as director of theecclesiasticlibrarySainte-GenevièveinParis,Ventenat took a trip to England. Here he investigated the country'sbotanical gardens,inspiring him to pursue a vocation in sciences. Following his time at library he became an active botanist, studying under and collaborating with botanistCharles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle(1746–1800).In 1795 he was elected a member of theInstitut national des sciences et des arts,later known as theAcadémie des sciences.

In 1794 he wrote a treatise on the principles of botany titledPrincipes de botanique, expliqués au Lycée républicain par Ventenat.After publication he became so disappointed with its mediocrity that he reportedly made efforts to procure all copies of the book and have them destroyed. In 1798 he published a French translation ofAntoine-Laurent de Jussieu'sGenera plantarumasTableau du règne végétal selon la méthode de Jussieu.In his translation of the work, Ventenat added information involving the properties and uses of plants.

In 1799 he publishedDescription des plantes nouvelles et peu connues, cultivées dans le jardin de J.-M. Cels,a work that described flora in thebotanical gardenofJacques Philippe Martin Cels(1740–1806), and in 1803 he publishedLe Jardin de la Malmaison,being written at the request ofJoséphine de Beauharnais(1763–1814), who wished to immortalize the rare species of plants found in the gardens andgreenhousesofChâteau de Malmaison.The illustrations in the two aforementioned works were performed by famedbotanical artistPierre-Joseph Redouté(1759–1840). Ventenat is also credited with continuing the work onJean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard'sHistoire des champignons de la France,a landmark work onmushroomsnative to France.

Works

• Principes de botanique: expliqués au Lycée républicain 1792
• Ventenat, Étienne-Pierre(1799).Tableau du règne végétal, selon la méthode de Jussieu 3 vols(in French). Paris: J. Drisonnier.
  • Vol. IDiscours sur l'étude de la botanique p. i, Dictionaire de botanique p. 1, Nomenclature méthodique p. 579
  • Vol. IIAcotylédones p. 1, Monocotylédones p. 75, Dicotylédones p. 225
  • Vol. IIIDicotylédones (continued: Class 12 Polypetales onwards) Schema p. 139
• Description des plantes nouvelles et peu connues, cultivées dans le jardin de J.-M. Cels,1799
• Choix de plantes: dont la plupart sont cultivées dans le jardin de Cels 1803
• Ventenat, É. P(1803–1804).Jardin de la Malmaison 2 vols(in French). Paris: Crapelet.
• Decas Generum Novorum,1808.

Bibliography

• This article was originally based on a translation of theequivalent articleat theFrench Wikipedia
• Adrien Davy de Virville (dir.),Histoire de la botanique en France, SEDES, Paris, 1955: 394 p.
• H. Walter Lack, Un Jardin d’Eden. Chefs-d’œuvre de l’illustration botanique, Taschen, Cologne, 2001: 576 p.
• William Wheeler, L'Illustration botanique, Les Éditions du Carrousel, Paris, 1999: 175 p.
• Stearn, William Thomas(28 February 1939). "Ventenat's" Description des Plantes... de J. M. Cels, "" Jardin de la Malmaison "and" Choix des Plantes "".Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History.1(7): 199–201.doi:10.3366/jsbnh.1939.1.7.199.
• Callmander, Martin W.; Durbin, Olivier D.; Lack, Hans-Walter; Bungener, Patrick; Martin, Pascal; Gautier, Laurent (3 April 2017)."Etienne-Pierre Ventenat (1757–1808) and the Gardens of Cels and Empress Joséphine".Candollea.72(1): 87–132.doi:10.15553/c2017v721a8.S2CID90248584.

External links

• The Eponym Dictionary of Southern African Plants Plant Names T-Zventenatii/ventenatiana
• IPNI.List of plant names with authorityVentenat.