Michel Charles Durieu de Maisonneuve

Michel Charles Durieu de Maisonneuve (December 7, 1796 – February 20, 1878) was a French soldier and botanist who was a native of Saint-Eutrope-de-Born in the department of Lot-et-Garonne.

He studied at École Militaire de Brienne, and later at the military school of Saint-Cyr, where he received the rank of sub-lieutenant. He entered military service in 1813, and would be associated with the French army until 1848. He participated in the Battle of Trocadero at Cadiz, and was involved in the 1843 Battle of Smala against the forces of Abd-El-Kader (1808–1883).

In the mid-1820s Durieu de Maisonneuve developed an interest in natural history and botany by studying fresh water algae. He participated in the Morea expedition to Greece with naturalist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778–1846), and in 1840-44 was a member of a committee for scientific exploration of Algeria. During his years in the military he also performed botanical excursions in France, Spain and northern Portugal.

Durieu de Maisonneuve studied cryptogam species wirh Bory de Saint-Vincent, Camille Montagne (1784–1866), Joseph-Henri Léveillé (1796–1870), and the brothers Charles (1817–1884) and Louis René Tulasne (1815–1885). He also performed research of spermatophytes with Ernest Cosson (1819–1889), who was an authority of North African flora.

In 1858 he succeeded Jean François Laterrade (1784–1858) as director of the botanical garden at Bordeaux, and from 1867 to 1877 was a professor of botany in Bordeaux.

The standard author abbreviation Durieu is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.^[1]

References

• Laboratoire de Botanique et de Mycologie (biography in French)

1. ^ "Author Query". International Plant Names Index. http://www.ipni.org/ipni/authorsearchpage.do. 

Persondata
Name	Durieu de Maisonneuve, Michel Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 7, 1796
Place of birth
Date of death	February 20, 1878
Place of death