Father Joseph Le Turquier de Longchamps

Joseph Alexandre Le Turquier de Longchamp was born in Bois Héroult on November 6, 1748. He was educated at Saint Nicaise Seminary and was appointed to Colmare in 1777, two years after being ordained a priest. In his spare time he took interest in plants and, in particular, "simple" plants in order to provide care to the sick.

Elected mayor of Colmare by the population in 1790 he refused to take the civil oath in 1791, so he had to go into exile. He settled in Germany and then in England, where he entered the service of the Count of Provence (later Louis XVIII). He resumed his interest in botany and built up an important herbarium. During this period, he met many botanists with whom he would later keep in touch.

Returning to France by Dieppe in 1800, customs held back his herbarium, and despite his efforts, he lost it. Unable to recover his property, almost ruined, he was admitted, in 1808, as a boarder at the Hospice général de Rouen, not far from the old Jardin des Plantes located near the Armand Carrel street where he found local botanists. Thanks to his studies of flora, he was elected to the Academy of Rouen in 1814.

"La Flore des environs de Rouen," published in 1816, is his great work, supplemented in 1824 by the printing of a "Supplement to the Flora of the Vicinity of Rouen." This is the first such complete nomenclature of the local flora. He continued his activity until his death on 2 October 1829 at the age of 81.

Joseph Le Turquier de Longchamp leaves behind important documents on the local flora, a herbarium kept at the Rouen Museum and the plantation of the park of the Château de Bois Héroult. Cedars of Lebanon, purple beech trees and redwoods that he planted there can still be seen today.