French missionary and botanist. Père Urbain Faurie was born at Dunières. He joined the Society of Foreign Missionaries in 1869 and after being ordained priest in 1873 went to work in Japan, arriving in Niigata in 1874. Nine years on he was to be found at Hakodate on Japan's northern island, Hokkaido, which he explored from the Straits of Tsugaru to Aomori in 1897. In the preceding years he had also collected plants in northern and central Honshu and on Kyushu, and visited the northern Ryukyu islands and southern Korea. After his time in Hokkaido he moved to Formosa (Taiwan), where he spent the rest of his days. His collection of several hundred thousand herbarium specimens was deposited in Paris, with duplicates at the University of Kyoto, the British Museum, Kew and elsewhere. Faurie died at Taihoku, Formosa. Many plant species are named in his honour, such as the alpine poppy Papaver fauriei (Fedde) Fedde ex Miyabe & Tatew. and the alder Alnus fauriei H.Lév. & Vaniot.

Soures:
P. Barnes, 2001, "Japan's botanical sunrise", Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 18(1): 117-131
J.H. Barnhart, 1965, Biographical Notes Upon Botanists, 1: 529
B. Hayata, 1916, "Père Urbain Faurie", The Botanical Magazine: 267-272.