Decaisne, Joseph (1807 - 1882)

Born at Brussels 7th March, 1807. He died at Paris 8th February,1882.

He went to Paris, and in 1824 was attached to the Jardin des Plantes, becoming, in 1832, assistant naturalist for rural botany under A. de Jussieu and began the publication of interesting works, which, in 1847, opened to him the gates of the Academy of Sciences. In 1847 he:was appointed to the chair of Statistical Agriculture in the College de France, and succeeded M. de Mirbel, in 1850,as professor of "Culture" in the Museum. He was afterwards President of the Academy of Sciences and Director of the Jardin des Plantes.

A distinguished botanist, who rose from the position of a simple gardener to be leading botanist in France, it is doubtful whether his reputation will so much be based on his botanical monographs as on his admirable pomological works. He worked on the plants of the Venus and, Astrolabe and La Zelee expeditions.

For accounts of him see Flore de Serres, Tome 19, p. 29; (1873) with portrait, and Gardeners' Chronicle, 18 th February, 1882, p. 215.

The following Australian plants commemorate him :-

Eucalyptus decaisneana, Blume;
Tabernoomontana decaisnei, A. DC. = Andrachne decaisnei, Benth.
Casuarina decaisneana, F.v.M.;
Asparagopsis decaisnei, Kunth. = Asparagus racemosus, Willd.

Source: Maiden, J.H. (1910) Records of the earlier French botanists as regards Australian plants. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales for 1910. 44:123-155.
Portrait Photo: Maiden, J.H. (1910) Records of earlier French botanists as regards Australian plants, J. Proc. Roy. Soc. NSW, 44, plates.