• 



« 



,yC; 



Botanical Gazette. 



Vol. VIII. MARCH, 1883. No. 8. 



Some North American Botanists. 



III. Andre Michaux. 



The "elder Michaux, 1 ' as he is called, has the double distinct- 

 ion of publishing the first Flora of North America, and of being, the 

 most indefatigable explorer this country has ever seen. Although 

 he has left his name as author upon but two works, his numerous 

 discoveries have furnished the basis of other publications. The 

 work referred to besides the Flora of North America is a "History 

 of North American Oaks," and neither of these were published till 

 the year of the author's death, the former being edited by the emi- 

 nent botanist Louis Claude Richard and the latter with the help of 

 the son, F. A. Michaux. The whole object of Michaux's existence 

 seems to have been to transplant to France from all quarters of the 

 globe every species of plant that could be made useful, and pres- 

 ently this desire settled into such an eagerness for travel that he 

 was never at rest, except by compulsion, and probably traversed 

 more territory than any other botanist. An outline of his life is as 

 follows: He was born in Versailles, March 7, 1746, and received 

 his botanical education under the great Bernard de Jussieu. His 

 .first visit was to England; then several trips to the mountains of 

 Auvergne, to the Pyrenees, and into Spain. From 1782 to 1785 he 

 was in Persia in a political capacity, but really to explore a coun- 

 try that was then almost unknown to scientific men, and returned 

 home with a large collection. The French government having be- 

 come interested in the subject of introducing into France such ex- 

 otic trees as would be useful in shipbuilding, Michaux was chosen 

 to visit the United States, with a commission to send to France all 

 the trees he could obtain. In September, 1785, he embarked with 

 his son at L'Orient and arrived at New York on the 13th of No- 

 vember. He remained in this country until 1796, v hen he em- 

 barked from Charleston, S. C, for Amsterdam, but was wrecked on 

 the coast of Holland. In this shipwreck it is stated, in the Annates 

 du Museum d 'Histoire Naturelle, that ''Michaux was lashed to one 

 of the yards, and was senseless when carried on shore," not recov- 

 ering till some hours afterwards. His first thought was for his col- 

 lections of ten busy years and he was gratified to learn that some 

 of them were saved. "His plants having got wetted by the salt 

 water, he was obliged to immerse them all in fresh water, and one 



