Charles-Joseph Marie Pitard, name sometimes given as Charles-Joseph Marie Pitard-Briau (30 October 1873 – 29 December 1927) was a French pharmacist and botanist.[1]
In 1899 he obtained his doctorate in natural sciences at the University of Bordeaux, later serving as a professor at the school of medicine in Tours. He conducted botanical and exploratory investigations in the Canary Islands (1904–06), Tunisia (1907–10 & 1913) and Morocco (1911–13). Many of his plant collections were sent to herbaria in Geneva and Paris.[2][3]
He was the taxonomic authority of numerous botanical taxa. About 525 names have been published. Such as Aichryson mollii Pit., Iles Canaries 189.[4]
The genus Pitardia (Batt. ex Pit.), now classed as a synonym of Nepeta L.,[5] was named in his honor.[3] Then in 2003, Tirveng. published Pitardella, a genus of flowering plants from Indo-China, belonging to the family Rubiaceae.[6]
Also named in his honour, are plants with the specific epithets of pitardii (about 27) and pitardiana (about 7).[7][8] Such as Beaumontia pitardii Tsiang,[9] and also Poa pitardiana H.Scholz.[10]
Published works
- Les Iles Canaries. Flore de l'Archipel (1908) – The Canary Islands, flora of the archipelago (with Louis Proust, 1878–1959).
- Contribution à l'étude de la Flore du Maroc (1931) – Contribution to the study of Moroccan flora.[2]
Pitard also made significant contributions to the "Flore générale de L'Indo-Chine" (General flora of Indochina).[11]