L'Ecluse, Charles (i.e. Jules Charles) de (Carolus Clusius) (I526-I609) 
Clusius is one of the botanists who have contrib¬ 
uted most to the history of plant introduction and 
naturalization# Kraus# "Der botanische garten der 
Universitat Halle" 2;90 (1894)* says that if any one 
man stands out preeminently in the period of intro¬ 
duction of oriental plants to European gardens, it 
is Carl Clusius* His patron and disciple Maria de 
Brimeu, wife of Conrad Scetz, called Clusius "the 
father of all the beautiful gardens of the Nether¬ 
lands". His acquaintance and correspondence with 
other botanists and amateurs of plants, and patrons 
of learning throughout Europe, was very extensive, 
and through his exchanges of seeds and roots, etc., 
great additions were made in his lifetime to the 
number of ornamental and other plants grown in the 
Low Countries. He was not only interested in pro¬ 
curing them, but his observation of their character¬ 
istics and life history was intimate and accurate. 
This knowledge was widely distributed through his 
own publications and correspondence, and he further 
extended the knowledge of plants by his translations 
of Dodoens" "Cruydeboeck" (Antwerpen, 1554) from Low 
Dutch into French in 1557, and Belon's "Observations 
de plusieurs slngularitez et choses m^morables trou- 
v4es en *•• pays estranges" (1553) "Remonstrances 
sur le d^faut du labour et culture des plantes" (1558) 
into Latin, published 1589 . His own books are rich 
in information on plants that were now in his time, 
many of the earliest accounts being in his "Rariorum 
aliquot stirpivun per Hispanias observatarum historia" 
( 1576 ) and "Rariorum aliquot stirpium, per pannoniam, 
Austriam et vicinas quasdam provincias observatarum 
historia" ( 1583 ), but most of his lore concerning 
new plants was brought together and summarized, with 
many additions, in his "Rariorum plantarum historia" 
in 1601 . This is the best known and most quoted of 
his books, and because of its comprehensive charac¬ 
ter many writers are content to refer to this alone, 
without consulting his earlier works. (MFW) 
A good deal of Clusius* plant lore is found in 
books and articles about him, among vdiich the fol¬ 
lowing may bo mentioned: 
Hunger, F. W. T. Charles de I'Ecluse. 's-Grav- 
enhage, 1927« 445 P* 
Istv^nffi, Gyula. fitudes et commentatres sur le 
Code de I'Escluse, augment^e de quelques notices bi- 
ographiques. Budapest, 1900* 287 p* Also sy¬ 
nopsis of the same in; Congrfes Internationale de bo- 
tanique, Paris, 1900, Actes, p.498-507« 
