Henry de Vilmorin

Carte de visite, c. 1874

Charles Henry Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin (26 February 1843, Paris – 23 August 1899) was a French botanist and grandfather of the novelist, poet and journalist, Louise de Vilmorin. Seven generations of the family of Vilmorin contributed greatly to French agriculture for over two hundred and thirty years by their improvements of sugar-beet and wheat - they produced numerous varieties of wheat and published more than three hundred and sixty articles on plants in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture and botany.

Life and work

The Vilmorin seed company was established by Henry's ancestors Philippe Victoire de Vilmorin (1746-1804) and Pierre Andrieux (1713–1780), chief seed supplier and botanist (botaniste du roi) to King Louis XV, revived an old seed-growing firm and named it Vilmorin-Andrieux in 1774. Henry was the son of Pierre François "Louis" Lévêque de Vilmorin (1816-1860) and Elisa Bailly (1826-1868). Henry headed the family firm from 1866 to 1899 and was more interested in the business and economics than his father who had interests in theoretical genetics. Unlike his father, Henry believed in the transmission of acquired characters. Henry was the first to hybridise wheat. As a result, he introduced 18 strains of high-yield wheat while continuing his father’s work on the breeding of sugar beets, and publishing Les meilleurs blés Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine ('The Best Wheat') in 1880 with descriptions of the best winter and spring wheat varieties and their cultivation. This was followed by a supplement published by Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie in 1909. He also produced a small book Flowers of the French Riviera and a number of catalogues of domesticated plants.

Hooker dedicated the 125th volume of Curtis's Botanical Magazine to him.

The standard author abbreviation H.Vilm. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

Family

Family tree showing prominent members

Henry was married in 1869 to Louise Julie Darblay, the daughter of Jacques-Paul Darblay 1814-1854 and Marguerite-Julie Rousseau 1825-1896. They produced 7 children:

Memberships

Publications

References

  1. ↑ "Plant hybridization before Mendel". Princeton, Princeton University Press. 1929.
  2. ↑ Gayon, Jean; Zallen, Doris T. (1998). "The Role of the Vilmorin Company in the Promotion and Diffusion of the Experimental Science of Heredity in France, 1840-1920". Journal of the History of Biology. 31 (2): 241–262. ISSN 0022-5010.
  3. ↑ "Leveque De Vilmorin definition of Leveque De Vilmorin in the Free Online Encyclopedia". Encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  4. ↑ Details - Flowers of the French Riviera by M. Henry L. de Vilmorin. - Biodiversity Heritage Library. Biodiversitylibrary.org. 1893. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  5. ↑ International Plant Names Index. H.Vilm.