Pierre-Antoine Poiteau

Pierre-Antoine Poiteau’s (1766-1854) interest in botany began during his occupation as a gardener. His interest in plants and his appetite for adventure took him to Santa Domingo, Haiti and New Guinea where he oversaw the construction of botanical gardens and sourced foreign seeds and plant specimens. Poiteau’s illustrious career includes serving as head gardner at Versailles and Fontainebleau and as the head of the Botanical School of Paris. His interest in botany is memorialized in his notable publication Pomologie Française.