Louis Claude Noisette | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2 November 1772 |
| Died | 9 January 1849 (aged 66) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany, Agronomy |
Louis Claude Noisette (2 November 1772 at Chatillon – 9 January 1849) was a famous French horticulturist and botanist.
He was the son of Joseph Noisette, the future Louis XVIII's gardener for the Count of Provence. He had two brothers: Antoine Noisette, who was born in Torcy, France, in 1778 and passed away in Nantes, France, in 1858; and Philippe Noisette, who was born in Paris in 1773 and died in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1835. They were both avid gardeners. Antoine oversaw the botanical garden at Nantes.
Early life
In 1795, after a short stint in the infantry, Louis Claude Noisette became a gardener at Val-de-Grace. In 1798, this position ceased to exist. In 1806, together with his brothers, he accumulated funds and founded a botanical facility. There, he collected various plants, including a large array of roses.
Rosa x noisettiana, or the Noisette Rose, was named after Claude Antoine Thory (1759-1827). Noisette obtained the hybrid rose from seeds sent by his brother, Philippe, who had settled in South Carolina. Philippe gave the planter John Champneys a Rosa x 'Old Blush' plant that Louis Claude had sent him from France. Rosa moschata (the Musk Rose) fertilized this rose, resulting in Rosa x 'Champneys' Pink Cluster'. Louis Noisette obtained Rosa x 'Blush Noisette'', the first Noisette rose, from the sowing of seeds of 'Champney's Pink Cluster' sent by Phillipe.
In France, Noisette was responsible for the introduction and distribution of a large number of rare American and Indian plants. For this work, on May 8, 1840, he was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
Noisette was famous across Europe. In Austria, Prince Nicolas II Esterházy called on him to plant his vast estate.
Noisettia, a genus of small flowering plants native to tropical America in the family Violaceae, is named after him.
In the Garden of the King at the Palace of Versailles, one of the gardens is named in honor of "Louis Noisette, great gardener".
Noisette died in 1849, without children. His brother Philippe's descendants operated a nursery in Charleston into the 1940s.
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