Victor Jacquemont


Victor Vincelas Jacquemont was a French botanist and geologist known for his travels in India.
Born in Paris on August 8, 1801, Victor Jacquemont was the youngest of four sons of Venceslas Jacquemont and Rose Laisné. He studied medicine and later took an interest in botany. His early travels took him around Europe. He was lightly built and capable of living on a very frugal diet.
After being invited by the Jardin des Plantes to collect plant and animal specimens from a country of his choice for 240 pounds a year, Jacquemont traveled to India leaving Brest in August 1828. He arrived at Calcutta on 5 May 1829. He went to Delhi on 5 March 1830 and went onwards towards the western Himalayas. He visited Amber in Rajputana, met with the Sikh Emperor Ranjit Singh at his capital of Lahore, and visited the kingdom of Ladakh in the Himalaya. He also visited Bardhaman in Bengal in November 1829. He died of cholera in Bombay on 7 December 1832.
Several plants are named for him, including Acacia jacquemontii, the Himalayan White Birch ', the Indian Tree Hazel ', Afghan Cherry ', and the cobra lily or Jack in the pulpit '.

Selected publications

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