Jules Émile Planchon (1823–1888)

Planchon’s contribution to carnivorous plants is deserving of special mention. He studied botany under Augustin de Saint-Hilaire and became a Doctor of Sciences before moving on to work for Joseph Dalton Hooker as Curator of the Kew Herbarium from 1844–1849 (Maiden, 1910).

It was during his time at Kew that Planchon completed a monograph of the genus Drosera, which included 85 species and a further 3 that were incompletely studied. This work included an account of all the known South African and Australian species. Planchon personally published 17 new species from Australia and South Africa, including Drosera burkeana, D. calycina, D. curvipes and D. intricata. Drosera planchonii was named in his honour.

For more information on the life of Jules Émile Planchon please see Wikipedia.

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Drosera planchonii. Photo © Richard Nunn.

Jules Émile Planchon

A page of Planchon, J.E. 1848: Sur la famille des Droséracées. Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique sér. 2, Sér. 3: 79–98, 185–207, 285–309.