Achille Richard

Achille Richard

Achille Richard was a French botanist and physician (27 April 1794 in Paris – 5 October 1852).

He was son of a notable botanist, Louis-Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821).

Pharmacist in the French fleet and member of several well-known societies of their time.

Achille Richard was one of the botanical leaders of his time, and his books are even nowadays valued for their clarity and precision.

He entered on 24 February 1834, as member of the French Academy of Sciences (Botanical Section). He was also member of the French National Academy of Medicine.

Achille Richard studied and described several genera of orchids that take his abbreviation in the generic name, among them Ludisia.

• Nouveaux Elements de Botanique (New Elements of Botany), Paris, (1819). (11th Edition, 1876, available online at Gallica)
• Monographie du genre Hydrocotyle de la famille des ombellifères. (Monograph of genus Hydrocotyle of the family Umbelliferae (or Apiaceae), 1820 (available online at Gallica)
• Mémoire sur la famille des rubiacées contenant la description générale de cette famille et les caractères des genres qui la composent (Memory on the family Rubiaceae, containing the general description of this family and characters of genera that compose it), 1829 (available online at Gallica)
• Monographie des orchidées des îles de France et de Bourbon (Monograph of orchids of the islands of France and Réunion), 1828 (available online Gallica)
• Voyage en Abyssinie (1839–1843), a natural history
• Histoire Physique, Politique et Naturelle de L'Ile de Cuba (Ed. Sagra, Ramón de la). Botanique. Plantes Vasculaires. (Physical, Political and Natural History of the island of Cuba, Botany. Vascular plants.), 1845 (available online at Gallica)

J.M.C.Rich. - (Jean Michel) Claude Richard 1784–1868