Andre’ Micheaux was born March 8, 1746 at Satory, near Versailles, France. He was initially not a botanist but a scholar of classical languages. While Micheaux is neither known through published works or famed as a scholar in the field of classical languages he did continue his formal studies until 1770. In 1770 his wife died while giving birth to their son Francois Andre’ Micheaux (who later became a famed botanist for his work with American flora as well) and this led Micheaux to find solace in the natural world; picking up botany as a formal study in 1778, he left his native France to study in England.
By 1780 Micheaux studied the landscapes and native flora of the Pyrenees mountains and the coast of Spain under the guidance of Bernard de Jussieu, a french naturalist, biologist and physician. He had also accompanied expeditions throughout the Middle East as secretary to the French consul by appointment of the Royal Court. The expedition of 1782 to Persia (present day Iran) was Micheaux’s first experience with botany abroad and with the French Government. This trip lasted a full two years as he was not only separated from his group of French government officials (this was a temporary separation and sources debate this fact) but robbed of his equipment as well.
Caught in a war torn country in the aftermath of a civil war, Micheaux was left with only his botanical books and knowledge. “I cannot express . . . with what joy I went to visit the countryside. Gazing upon that multitude of plants which covered the meadows, I was often dazzled and obliged to calm myself for several minutes. I could not sleep at night and awaited the day with impatience,” he reflected. Enchanted by his studies, Micheaux seemingly overlooked the chaos of a country rebuilding itself. His defining moment in Persia came in 1783 (or 1784 depending on the source; his published diary reads 1783 but secondary sources say it was actually 1784 and he faultily put down the wrong year out of confusion) when Micheaux cured the shah of his chronic illness through plant based medicinal treatments. There are very little details on this event with only Micheaux’s diary to rely on and no other published accounts of this event (note: the author of this post did no research of 18th century Iranian Royalty or international relations and foreign affairs in Iran during this time. Micheaux’s healing of the most powerful ruler in the country may be documented elsewhere but there is only one known western source of information on this–his personal journal of his travels which has yet to be translated from French).
Micheaux’s once private garden is now open to the public in North Charleston, SC
When Micheaux returned to France in 1784 he considered his healing of the shah the turning point of his career and is appointed to Royal Botanist by Louis XVI of France under the General Director of the Bâtiments du Roi of Versailles (The King’s Buildings of Versailles). While this new position and title essentially made Micheaux a glorified gardener at the palace of Versaille, his experience abroad and studies in England lead the Royal counsel to believe he was a good fit to explore the British Colonies and in 1785 he was sent to North America to collect and catalogue seeds. From 1786-1796 Micheaux was housed in Charleston, South Carolina. Featured here are excerpts of the books Flora Boreali-Americana and Histoire des chênes de l’Amérique of which he contributed to while studying in Charleston.
Flora Boreali-Americana
Flora-Boreali-Americana is the earliest known and completed work of North American botany and horticulture. It is set up in a style known at the time as cyclopedia, (later called the encyclopedia) a source of plant taxonomy. The Flora Boreali-Americana translates to Flower Bore-American, meaning flowers native to or born of America. All of the plants featured in the book have their latin names and hand drawn illustrations of the plants from different angles. Micheaux’s contributions to this book featured plants specifically with healing properties/medicinal properties. While Micheaux was by no means a practicing physician but he did recognize the power of natures holistic medicines. Featured below is this book.
Plants discovered by Michaux include the camellia, the tea-olive, the Carolina lilly, the big leaf magnolia, and the decorative crepe myrtle. While discovered is not taken in the literal sense in the world of botany, it is simply equivalent to meaning that someone has formally catalogued and named a plant. Michaux formally catalogued and named all 200 plants featured in the book and is credited as the primary author. Following the collection of the material for this book Michaux sold his Charleston garden and left for France, he was shipwrecked and lost the seeds and plants catalogued in this book; not completely left without hope Michaux salvaged the rough draft of the book and went to work on the now lost sections. Flora Boreali-Americana was finally published in latin, in 1800 and Michaux went on expedition this same year first to Australia in 1801 and then to the French colonial island Madagascar. Michaux explored Madagascar but did not complete a book on his findings due to his death of tropical fever (Malaria) in 1802.
Histoire des chênes de l’Amérique
The History of the Oaks of America was published by the Agricultural Society of Charleston, this was the society’s first sponsored publication. It is about the healing properties of a genetic strand of oak tree that no longer exists in America due to extreme deforestation that took place during the 1700’s (compared to today’s standards this would have been considered small deforestation but this was the first wave of deforestation and industrialized living in North America). A standard oak tree in a tropical climate like Charleston takes around 30 years average to grow to full size. A fully grown oak tree has bark that can be stripped from it without harm as it will grow the bark back with the proper environmental influences. Oak trees are highly sensitive plants, they can not be moved and replanted, they do not have regularly occurring buds or blossoms for pollination and cannot be cross-pollinated successfully by outside sources. Oak trees reproduce via acorns but all acorns do not grow oak trees or anything at all, they are in a sense bad seeds. The especially temperamental oak tree Michaux wrote about had healing properties from soothing coughs to curing headaches to curing upset stomaches and constipation (with a tea boiled from the bark). These everyday ailments and the convenient solution were overused and the oak never had a chance. The History of the Oaks of America is a French publication of the French language and while the author of this page lacked the resources to translate the whole book, a copy of the original is featured below.