Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour

Jean Baptiste Louis Claude Theodore Leschenault de la Tour (November 13, 1773 - March 14, 1826) was a French botanist and ornithologist.

Leschenault de la Tour was chief botanist on Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia between 1800 and 1803. He collected a great many new specimens in 1801 and 1802, but in April 1803 he was so ill that he had to be put ashore at Timor. Forced to spend the next three years on Java he used the time to make the first thorough botanical investigation of the island, which had not previously been visited by naturalists except briefly by Carl Peter Thunberg. He arrived back in France in July 1807 with a large collection of plants and birds.

Leschenault's Javanese birds were described by Georges Cuvier and Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, and he also made his skins and notes available to Coenraad Jacob Temminck. His plant collection resulted in his being granted a pension by the French government.

In May 1816 Leschenault travelled to India to collect plants and establish a botanical garden at Pondicherry. He was given permission by the British to travel through Madras, Bengal and Ceylon. He sent many of the plants and seeds he discovered to the French island of Réunion to be cultivated. These included two varieties of sugar cane and six varieties of cotton. He returned to France in 1822 and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur.

Less than a year after his return Leschenault travelled to South America, visiting Brazil, Dutch Guiana and French Guiana, and introducing tea bushes to Cayenne, the capital of the French colony. He was forced to return home after only eighteen months due to ill health.

A number of birds were named after Leschenault, including Greater Sand Plover "Charadrius leschenaultii", White-crowned Forktail "Enicurus leschenaulti" and Sirkeer Malkoha "Phaenicophaeus leschenaultii".

The plant genus "Lechenaultia" is also named after him.

References

*"Biographies for Birdwatchers", Mearns and Mearns, ISBN 0-12-487422-3
* [http://www.mlssa.asn.au/journals/2001Journal.htm "Nicolas Baudin’s Scientific Expedition To The Terres Australes" by Steve Reynolds] - Marine Life Society of South Australia Inc.
* Fornasiero, Jean; Monteath, Peter and West-Sooby, John. "Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian voyages of Nicholas Baudin and Matthew Flinders", Kent Town, South Australia,Wakefield Press,2004. ISBN 1-86254-625-8