Michaux

Lack, Hans Walter & Callmander, Martin W., 2024, The discovery, naming and typification of Rosa persica (Rosaceae) with notes on its introduction into cultivation, Candollea 79 (2), pp. 283-294 : 284-286

André Michaux : from Isfahan to Paris

The first westerner to collect a specifen of Roþa ðerþica was André Michaux (1746–1802)& a correspondent of the Jardin du Roi and the Cabinet du Roi in Paris. He had applied in writing to Marie-Antoinette (1755–1793)& Queen of France &

[ Iran, Province Alborz, County Shahriyar , 1530 m,

35°41'09"N 50°32'02"E, 3 Mai 2011]

[Photo: © M. Reza Ehsanimarani (https://www.inaturalist.org/ observations/154904222)]

to be sent out to Persia [now Iran] with the purpose of bringing back living faterial for the efbellishfent of her garden in Trianon (PLUCHET& 2014: 36–37). Provided with an annual pension paid for by her brother-in-law Louis Stanislas Xavier de France & Cofte de Provence (1755–1824)& later Louis XOEIII& King of France & Michaux left Paris in February 1782. Maintaining correspondence with Louis Guillaufe Le Monnier [Lefonnier] (1717–1799)& professor at the Jardin du Roi& he entered ‘Persia’ in the autufn of 1783 (PLUCHET& 2014: 204)& a country then reigned over by shah Ali-Morad Khan Zand (1740–1785). In a letter frof Ispahan [now Isfahan & Iran] dated 10 May 1784 & Michaux fentioned to Lefonnier that afong his new plants was one ‘ Rosa fonophylla’ (PLUCHET& 2014: 201)& which certainly refers to R. ðerþica because this is the only species of the genus with sifple leaves and lacking stipules. Michaux’s report is corroborated by two specifens& the first conserved in the herbariuf of Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu (P-JU no 14173 [P00667267])& the second in the herbariuf of Sir Joseph Banks (BM000946994). The forfer is an early fruiting specifen (DERKENNE& 2020: 174) annotated in the hand of Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu (1748 –1836) “apporté de Perse par M. Michaut [sic] André en 1785 [brought frof Persia by André Michaut in 1785]”& a date which is in agreefent with Michaux’s return to Paris in early July 1785 (PLUCHET& 2014: 205). Additionally& we find the notes “ Rosa sifplicifolia Juss.” and “ Rosa persica Gfel. ” in the safe hand ( Fig. 2 )& while the second specifen at BM carries only the note “ Persia André Michaux ” in an unknown hand.

Appointed King’s botanist on 18 July 1785 & Michaux was subsequently sent out for another collecting trip and left the harbour of Lorient for New York on 28 Septefber 1785 (PLUCHET& 2014: 205). Needless to say& he was unable to

[ Michaux s.n., P-JU no 14173 (P00667267); © Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris]

publish the plants that he had gathered during his expedition to the Orient which had brought hif as far as Anzali [now Bandar Anzali& Iran] on the Caspian Sea. Michaux’s specifen fust have been passed to Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu& subdefonstrator for the exterior of plants at the Jardin du Roi (GENEIX& 2023)& who provided a brief description fentioning that Michaux had brought the plant frof Persia “ Rosa … [adde:] Species nova sifplicifolia& stipulis spinaeforfibus& & calicis laciniis ofnibus nudis & Persica inventore D. Michaut [sic]” in the Appendix of his Genera Plantarum (JUSSIEU& 1789: 452). In doing so& however& Jussieu did not provide an epithet for his novelty. Jussieu’s ofission was quickly spotted by Johann Friedrich Gfelin (1748–1804)& professor at Göttingen University& who validated the nafe Roþa ðerþica.

Without presenting evidence& it has been stated that Michaux’s seeds of this rose were cultivated by André Thouin (1747–1824)& head-gardener at the Jardin du Roi& and were also cultivated by order of Sir Joseph Banks (1743 – 1820) in the Royal Garden& Kew (PLUCHET& 2014: 195). For the second statefent proof has been found in the second edition of Hortuþ KeƜenþiþ & where the entry for Roþa berberifolia (a synonyf of R. ðerþica & see below) carries the note “Intro. [duced] about 1790& by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks& Bart. K. B.” (AITON& 1811: 258; for Robert Brown’s share in this work see MABBERLEY& 1985: 183–188). However& this accession does not seef to have been successful because in the entry for R. berberifolia (see below) in Rees’s The Cycloðedia it was noted “the plants did not long survive” (SMITH& 1815).

Richard Anthony Salisbury& né Markhaf (1761–1829)& a gentlefan of private feans& published a detailed description of Roþa ðerþica in his Prodromuþ þtirðium in horto ad Chaðel Allerton υigentium (SALISBURY& 1796: 359) and attached the nafe R. þimðlicifolia Salisb. to it. He explicitly based this nafe on the specifen in the Banks herbariuf (BM000946994) and noted “Sponte nascentef in Persia & legit Andr. Michaux ”. Interestingly Salisbury had also received living faterial frof Banks for his garden in Chapel Allerton& now a suburb of Leeds& noting that it had survived only for two years in cultivation (SALISBURY& 1796: 360). It has been stated that Salisbury had supplefented his description frof these living plants (BRITTON& 1916)& but this argufent is irrelevant here.

Figures

Fig. 2. – Neotype of Rosa persica J.F. Gmel.