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Eccentric gardeners: one
Posted by: James Alexander-Sinclair, 21 August 2007, 08.38AMI thought it would be interesting to use this blog as an excuse to find out more about the many slightly eccentric people who have helped make gardening as popular and exciting as it is today so this is the first in an occasional series: if anybody wants to point me in the direction of anyone in particular then feel free.
Dr Philibert Commerson was a French naturalist born in 1727. He discovered a passion for botany while studying law in Montpelier. It was a great time to be a botanist as Linnaeus was beavering away naming things in Sweden and new plants were being discovered and brought back to Europe by the barrowload.
Commerson decided to start his own herbarium which task he set about with great enthusiasm - so much enthusiasm, in fact, that many of his specimens were actually pinched from the local botanic garden.
His big break came when he accompanied the great Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his circumnavigation of the world. As an naval expedition it was not that successful as it might have been; they founded no new colonies and narrowly missed discovering Australia but it produced lots of discoveries for Commerson - not just plants but birds, fish and mammals.
In Brazil he discovered, among many other species, Bougainvillea - a vividly coloured, fast growing climber now happily growing up the sides of Mediterranean villas (he also introduced the Hydrangea to France).
Interestingly, when they reached Tahiti, it was discovered that Commerson's valet - Bonnefoy - was actually a woman called Jeanne Baret. Initially Commerson denied all knowledge of the deception but it later turned out that he had been living with Jeanne for the previous four years. He named a plant after her but the name has now been changed from Baretia bonnafidia to Turrea heterophylla (I can't find a picture of it anywhere).
Commerson eventually worked himself to death on Mauritius - having set up a botanic garden (the charmingly named Jardin de Pamplemousses) there and Ms Baret returned to France. She was the first woman to circumnavigate the world, he has a dolphin and a leaf nosed bat named after him.
![leaf nosed bat](http://www.livt.net/Clt/Ani/Cho/Mam/Chi/Hpp/hpp002.jpg"){kind=link}
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Lancelot Spratt
23 August 2007, 10.40PM
James A-S
24 August 2007, 01.49PM
Lancelott Spratt
31 August 2007, 10.09PM
dayna
10 September 2007, 08.53PM
Pat
27 September 2007, 05.09PM
Jan Thomas
24 August 2008, 01.17PM
JamesA-S
27 August 2008, 12.05PM
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