Louis Claude Noisette (2 November 1772– 9 January 1849) was a French horticulturist and botanist.
Louis Claude Noisette | |
|---|---|
 Undated engraving of Noisette | |
| Born | 2 November 1772 Châtillon, France |
| Died | 9 January 1849 (aged 76) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany, Agronomy |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Nois. |
He was the son of Joseph Noisette, who served as the gardener for the Count of Provence, future Louis XVIII. Louis Claude had two brothers: Antoine Noisette, born in Torcy, France, in 1778, who passed away in Nantes, France, in 1858; and Philippe Noisette, born in Paris in 1773, who died in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1835. They were both frequent gardeners, with Antoine overseeing the botanical garden at Nantes.
Early life
Noisette was born on 2 November 1772 at Chatillon, France to gardener Joseph Noisette and Marie-Jeanne Necolier. In 1795, after a short time 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 8 May 1840, he was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
Noisette was well-known 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 childless in 1849. His brother Philippe's descendants operated a nursery in Charleston into the 1940s.
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