Biography

French soldier and botanist. Born in Campsegret (Dordogne), Marcellin Mouret displayed an early talent for agriculture and botany as a student at l'Ecole de Bretigny (Loiret), winning a first-class medal in agriculture at the competition in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire. During further studies in Pont-aux-Moines he composed a catalogue of the flora of Orléans, which was published in 1897. After completing his agricultural education at the farming school at Saint-Cyr-en-Val, he worked the family property at Campsegret, but continued to botanize locally.

In 1902 he enlisted in the 3rd regiment of the French Colonial Infantry and was posted to the garrison in Martinique, where he remained for two years and assembled a herbarium of the island flora, complete with notes and drawings. Promoted to sergeant in the 7th Colonial Regiment, he took part in the Tonkin campaign in French Indochina in 1906. Despite the rigours of the climate and his military duties, he managed to collect 672 numbers, principally from the Red River Delta, which he presented along with his annotated drawings to the Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, and which were later used by Lecomte and his collaborators for their Flore Générale de l'Indochine.

On his return to France at the beginning of 1908, while training at the Ecole Militaire de Saint Maixent, Mouret followed Corbière's course in cryptogamy at the lycée de Cherbourg. At his exit from St Maixent in October 1910, he was given the rank of sub-lieutenant and posted to Hyères with the 22nd Colonial Regiment. He became a member of the Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon and in 1911 published a catalogue of the marine algae of Provence in the society's journal. He also made a herbarium of local algae, which he donated to the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon.

In 1912 he joined the campaign in western Morocco. He explored the region extensively during the course of this posting, in two years collecting some 1,325 different species of vascular plants and an equal number of cryptogams, as well as numerous entomological and mineralogical specimens. His botanical collections were studied by Pitard, then a member of the scientific expedition to Morocco which had been organised by the Société Géographique de Paris, and by Lemoine, Hariot, Corbière, Abbé Hy, Bouly de Lesdain, and Patouillard. He also sketched and photographed the inhabitants and studied their languages and cultures. Not long after his promotion to lieutenant, he returned to France and presented his paper on the botany of western Morocco at the World Exposition in Ghent. Slide show lectures on his travels were also given in Toulon, Paris, and Marseilles. Before rejoining his regiment in Marseilles, he found time to visit the cryptogamic laboratories in Paris and Monaco to further his studies of algae and mosses (Muscinea).

With the outbreak of war in Europe, Mouret embarked for the Belgian Front on 14 August 1914 and was wounded in the battle at Jamoignes eight days later. During his convalescence at the military hospital in Marseilles, he collaborated on the algae segment of Decrock's Géographie Botanique des Bouches-du Rhône. He returned to the front with the 42nd Colonial Regiment in October and was killed in March at Vauquois while launching an assault at the head of his company. Ten new species of phanerogams from Morocco were discovered by him, including the eponyms Gigaspermum mouretii Corbière and the genera Mouretia and Mouretilla, both described by Pitard, who also named a plant from Tonkin, Oldentandia moureti Pitard, after him. Mouret's Recherches Botaniques dans le Moyen Atlas Maroccain was published posthumously in 1916.

Sources:
E. Jahandiez, 1921, "Notice Nécrologique sur le lieutenant Mouret", Annales de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon, 1921: 1-5.

Biography

French soldier and botanist. Born in Campsegret (Dordogne), Marcellin Mouret displayed an early talent for agriculture and botany as a student at l'Ecole de Bretigny (Loiret), winning a first-class medal in agriculture at the competition in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire. During further studies in Pont-aux-Moines he composed a catalogue of the flora of Orléans, which was published in 1897. After completing his agricultural education at the farming school at Saint-Cyr-en-Val, he worked the family property at Campsegret, but continued to botanize locally.

In 1902 he enlisted in the 3rd regiment of the French Colonial Infantry and was posted to the garrison in Martinique, where he remained for two years and assembled a herbarium of the island flora, complete with notes and drawings. Promoted to sergeant in the 7th Colonial Regiment, he took part in the Tonkin campaign in French Indochina in 1906. Despite the rigours of the climate and his military duties, he managed to collect 672 numbers, principally from the Red River Delta, which he presented along with his annotated drawings to the Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, and which were later used by Lecomte and his collaborators for their Flore Générale de l'Indochine.

On his return to France at the beginning of 1908, while training at the Ecole Militaire de Saint Maixent, Mouret followed Corbière's course in cryptogamy at the lycée de Cherbourg. At his exit from St Maixent in October 1910, he was given the rank of sub-lieutenant and posted to Hyères with the 22nd Colonial Regiment. He became a member of the Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon and in 1911 published a catalogue of the marine algae of Provence in the society's journal. He also made a herbarium of local algae, which he donated to the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon.

In 1912 he joined the campaign in western Morocco. He explored the region extensively during the course of this posting, in two years collecting some 1,325 different species of vascular plants and an equal number of cryptogams, as well as numerous entomological and mineralogical specimens. His botanical collections were studied by Pitard, then a member of the scientific expedition to Morocco which had been organised by the Société Géographique de Paris, and by Lemoine, Hariot, Corbière, Abbé Hy, Bouly de Lesdain, and Patouillard. He also sketched and photographed the inhabitants and studied their languages and cultures. Not long after his promotion to lieutenant, he returned to France and presented his paper on the botany of western Morocco at the World Exposition in Ghent. Slide show lectures on his travels were also given in Toulon, Paris, and Marseilles. Before rejoining his regiment in Marseilles, he found time to visit the cryptogamic laboratories in Paris and Monaco to further his studies of algae and mosses (Muscinea).

With the outbreak of war in Europe, Mouret embarked for the Belgian Front on 14 August 1914 and was wounded in the battle at Jamoignes eight days later. During his convalescence at the military hospital in Marseilles, he collaborated on the algae segment of Decrock's Géographie Botanique des Bouches-du Rhône. He returned to the front with the 42nd Colonial Regiment in October and was killed in March at Vauquois while launching an assault at the head of his company. Ten new species of phanerogams from Morocco were discovered by him, including the eponyms Gigaspermum mouretii Corbière and the genera Mouretia and Mouretilla, both described by Pitard, who also named a plant from Tonkin, Oldentandia moureti Pitard, after him. Mouret's Recherches Botaniques dans le Moyen Atlas Maroccain was published posthumously in 1916.

Sources:
E. Jahandiez, 1921, "Notice Nécrologique sur le lieutenant Mouret", Annales de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon, 1921: 1-5.

Biography

French soldier and botanist. Born in Campsegret (Dordogne), Marcellin Mouret displayed an early talent for agriculture and botany as a student at l'Ecole de Bretigny (Loiret), winning a first-class medal in agriculture at the competition in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire. During further studies in Pont-aux-Moines he composed a catalogue of the flora of Orléans, which was published in 1897. After completing his agricultural education at the farming school at Saint-Cyr-en-Val, he worked the family property at Campsegret, but continued to botanize locally.

In 1902 he enlisted in the 3rd regiment of the French Colonial Infantry and was posted to the garrison in Martinique, where he remained for two years and assembled a herbarium of the island flora, complete with notes and drawings. Promoted to sergeant in the 7th Colonial Regiment, he took part in the Tonkin campaign in French Indochina in 1906. Despite the rigours of the climate and his military duties, he managed to collect 672 numbers, principally from the Red River Delta, which he presented along with his annotated drawings to the Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, and which were later used by Lecomte and his collaborators for their Flore Générale de l'Indochine.

On his return to France at the beginning of 1908, while training at the Ecole Militaire de Saint Maixent, Mouret followed Corbière's course in cryptogamy at the lycée de Cherbourg. At his exit from St Maixent in October 1910, he was given the rank of sub-lieutenant and posted to Hyères with the 22nd Colonial Regiment. He became a member of the Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon and in 1911 published a catalogue of the marine algae of Provence in the society's journal. He also made a herbarium of local algae, which he donated to the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon.

In 1912 he joined the campaign in western Morocco. He explored the region extensively during the course of this posting, in two years collecting some 1,325 different species of vascular plants and an equal number of cryptogams, as well as numerous entomological and mineralogical specimens. His botanical collections were studied by Pitard, then a member of the scientific expedition to Morocco which had been organised by the Société Géographique de Paris, and by Lemoine, Hariot, Corbière, Abbé Hy, Bouly de Lesdain, and Patouillard. He also sketched and photographed the inhabitants and studied their languages and cultures. Not long after his promotion to lieutenant, he returned to France and presented his paper on the botany of western Morocco at the World Exposition in Ghent. Slide show lectures on his travels were also given in Toulon, Paris, and Marseilles. Before rejoining his regiment in Marseilles, he found time to visit the cryptogamic laboratories in Paris and Monaco to further his studies of algae and mosses (Muscinea).

With the outbreak of war in Europe, Mouret embarked for the Belgian Front on 14 August 1914 and was wounded in the battle at Jamoignes eight days later. During his convalescence at the military hospital in Marseilles, he collaborated on the algae segment of Decrock's Géographie Botanique des Bouches-du Rhône. He returned to the front with the 42nd Colonial Regiment in October and was killed in March at Vauquois while launching an assault at the head of his company. Ten new species of phanerogams from Morocco were discovered by him, including the eponyms Gigaspermum mouretii Corbière and the genera Mouretia and Mouretilla, both described by Pitard, who also named a plant from Tonkin, Oldentandia moureti Pitard, after him. Mouret's Recherches Botaniques dans le Moyen Atlas Maroccain was published posthumously in 1916.

Sources:
E. Jahandiez, 1921, "Notice Nécrologique sur le lieutenant Mouret", Annales de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulon, 1921: 1-5.