Charles-Joseph Pitard (or Pitard-Briau) was Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Tours, France. He collected plants in the Canary Islands and North Africa, presenting his collections to the herbaria in Geneva and Paris.

Pitard took his doctorate at the University of Bordeaux in 1899, and remained working there until his appointment as professor at Tours in 1901, where he was also curator.

Pitard collected in the Canaries in 1904-1906, on two separate expeditions, and explored Tunisia in 1907, 1908, 1909-1910 and 1913. He carried out fieldwork in Morocco in 1911-1913.

On his return from the Canaries, Pitard worked with Louis Proust on a flora of the islands, Les Iles Canaries. Flore de l'Archipel (1908). He later published Contribution à l'étude de la Flore du Maroc (1931).

As well as the collections at Geneva and Paris, a large number of duplicates of Pitard's collections were distributed to other herbaria.

Sources:
J. Briquet and F. Cavillier, 1930, Candollea, 4: 203-240
H. Lecomte, 1928, Bulletin de la Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, 34: 125-128
G. Sayre, 1975, "Cryptogamae Exsiccatae: an annotated bibliography of exsiccatae of algae, lichens, hepaticae, and musci. V. Unpublished Exsiccatae: I. Collectors", Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 19(3): 380-381.