GarcinL

Career

Collecting localities

Collections

Literature

Biographical data

Garcin, Laurent

(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)

Born: 1683, Grenoble, France. Died: 1752, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

career:

Whose parents emigrated to Switzerland after the anulment of the Edict of Nantes (1685). After his coming of age he was educated in Holland and was for 16 years surgeon in Dutch employ, travelling in Europe; in the years 1720-29 he accompanied 3 voyages to the East Indies in the service of the Dutch E.I.C. At the instigation of Boerhaave, at the time professor at Leiden, he collected dried plants and seeds during his eastern voyages, which were respectively sent to herbaria and botanical gardens. After his return to Holland (1730), he stayed for another year at Leiden, to accomplish his medical studies, subsequently taking his Dr’s degree at Reims. In 1732 he settled at Neuchâtel, but occasionally visited France and Holland (settling for 2 years at Hulst), returning in 1739.

He was the author of some botanical papers.¹

The genus Garcinia L. was named in his honour.

Collecting localities:

Between 1720-29 he visited Bengal, the coast of Coromandel, Ceylon, Surate, Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Arabia and Persia. Plants from Madoera are known too.

collections:

His herbarium was destroyed, but duplicates are preserved in some European herbaria. The most remarkable set was in Herb. N.L. Burman (now at Geneva [G], Leiden [L], etc.). The latter made use of it for the composition of his ‘Flora Indica’. Unfortunately the specimens are mixed up with those of other collectors, e.g. of Houttuyn and Hermann, so that it is mostly impossible to denote G.’s specimens with certainty.² Miquel cited Senecio multifidus Willd. from Java, evidently extant in Herb. Garcin.³ He brought seeds of Chrozophora rottleri from Surat to Batavia.⁴ Africa plants with Herb. Gessner in Herb. Techn. Coll. Zürich [ZT].

literature:

(1) e.g. ‘Memoirs containing a description of a new family of plants called Oxyoïdes; some remarks on the family of plants called Musa, and a description of Hirundinella marina, or a sea leach’ (Philos. Transact. no 415, Sept.-Oct. 1730, Memoir II, vol. 36, 1731, p. 377-394); ‘The settling of a new genus of plants, called after the Malayans, Mangostans’ (l.c. no 431, Jan.-March 1734, vol. 37, p. 232-242, 1 pl.). Both transl. from the French; cf. also letter to Sir H. Sloane in l.c. no 489, vol. 45, 1748, p. 564.
(2) cf. Sprengel, Hist. Rei Herbariae 2, 1808, p. 274-275; Lasègue, Mus. Bot. Deless., 1845, p. 66; Briquet in Ber. Schweiz. Bot. Ges. 50a, 1940, p. 233-235.
(3) cf. Flora Ned. Ind. 2, p. 104.
(4) cf. Prain in Kew Bull. 1918, p. 97.

biographical data:

Conservateur Suisse 13, 1831, p. 98-108 (2nd ed.: 13, 1857, p. 69-76); Haller, Bibl. Bot. 2, 1772, p. 223; Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936; Briquet, Biographies des Botanistes a Genève (Ber. Schweiz. Bot. Ges. 50a,1940) p. 233-235, incl. bibliogr.

	Career Collecting localities Collections Literature Biographical data
	Garcin, Laurent
	(Source: Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 1: Cyclopaedia of collectors)
	Born: 1683, Grenoble, France. Died: 1752, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
	career: Whose parents emigrated to Switzerland after the anulment of the Edict of Nantes (1685). After his coming of age he was educated in Holland and was for 16 years surgeon in Dutch employ, travelling in Europe; in the years 1720-29 he accompanied 3 voyages to the East Indies in the service of the Dutch E.I.C. At the instigation of Boerhaave, at the time professor at Leiden, he collected dried plants and seeds during his eastern voyages, which were respectively sent to herbaria and botanical gardens. After his return to Holland (1730), he stayed for another year at Leiden, to accomplish his medical studies, subsequently taking his Dr’s degree at Reims. In 1732 he settled at Neuchâtel, but occasionally visited France and Holland (settling for 2 years at Hulst), returning in 1739. He was the author of some botanical papers.¹ The genus Garcinia L. was named in his honour.
	Collecting localities: Between 1720-29 he visited Bengal, the coast of Coromandel, Ceylon, Surate, Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Arabia and Persia. Plants from Madoera are known too.
	collections: His herbarium was destroyed, but duplicates are preserved in some European herbaria. The most remarkable set was in Herb. N.L. Burman (now at Geneva [G], Leiden [L], etc.). The latter made use of it for the composition of his ‘Flora Indica’. Unfortunately the specimens are mixed up with those of other collectors, e.g. of Houttuyn and Hermann, so that it is mostly impossible to denote G.’s specimens with certainty.² Miquel cited Senecio multifidus Willd. from Java, evidently extant in Herb. Garcin.³ He brought seeds of Chrozophora rottleri from Surat to Batavia.⁴ Africa plants with Herb. Gessner in Herb. Techn. Coll. Zürich [ZT].
	literature: (1) e.g. ‘Memoirs containing a description of a new family of plants called Oxyoïdes; some remarks on the family of plants called Musa, and a description of Hirundinella marina, or a sea leach’ (Philos. Transact. no 415, Sept.-Oct. 1730, Memoir II, vol. 36, 1731, p. 377-394); ‘The settling of a new genus of plants, called after the Malayans, Mangostans’ (l.c. no 431, Jan.-March 1734, vol. 37, p. 232-242, 1 pl.). Both transl. from the French; cf. also letter to Sir H. Sloane in l.c. no 489, vol. 45, 1748, p. 564. (2) cf. Sprengel, Hist. Rei Herbariae 2, 1808, p. 274-275; Lasègue, Mus. Bot. Deless., 1845, p. 66; Briquet in Ber. Schweiz. Bot. Ges. 50a, 1940, p. 233-235. (3) cf. Flora Ned. Ind. 2, p. 104. (4) cf. Prain in Kew Bull. 1918, p. 97.
	biographical data: Conservateur Suisse 13, 1831, p. 98-108 (2nd ed.: 13, 1857, p. 69-76); Haller, Bibl. Bot. 2, 1772, p. 223; Backer, Verkl. Woordenb., 1936; Briquet, Biographies des Botanistes a Genève (Ber. Schweiz. Bot. Ges. 50a,1940) p. 233-235, incl. bibliogr.