Henri Guillaume Galeotti

Henri Guillaume Galeotti (September 10, 1814 - 1858) was a French-Belgian botanist and geologist of Italian parentage who was born in Paris. He specialized in the study of the family Cactaceae.

He studied geology and natural history at the "Etablissement Géographique de Bruxelles", where he graduated in 1835 with an award-winning dissertation on the geology of Brabant. After graduation, he spent the next five years in Mexico performing geological and botanical research. Here he collected numerous new species of plants, particularly cacti.

In 1840 Galeotti was offered a position teaching botany at the University of Brussels, but turned down the offer, preferring to work at his nursery outside of Brussels, where he imported Mexican flora for sell in Europe. During this time he also collaborated with botanist Martin Martens (1797-1863), involving scientific study of specimens that were collected in Mexico. In 1853 he became director of the "Jardin botanique de Bruxelles" (Botanical Garden of Brussels).

In 1852 he became editor of the "Journal d'Horticulture Pratique", and in 1857 created the "Bulletin de la Société Royale d’Horticulture de Belgique et du Jardin botanique de Bruxelles". After Galeotti's death in 1858, his personal Mexican herbarium was purchased from his widow by members of the "Jardin botanique de Bruxelles".

In August 1838, while in Mexico, he and a group of other botanists made one of the earliest recorded ascents of Pico de Orizaba. The genus "Galeottia" of the family Orchidaceae is named in his honor.

References

* [http://www.br.fgov.be/PUBLIC/GENERAL/HISTORY/galeotti.php National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Biography]