Philippe de Vilmorin

Joseph-Marie-Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin (21 May 1872 – 29 June 1917), generally known as Philippe de Vilmorin, was a noted French botanist and plant collector, and a member of the celebrated Vilmorin family of horticulturists.

In 1903 Vilmorin began the Arboretum de Pézanin, an arboretum located in Dompierre-les-Ormes, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France. He also collected plants in Egypt and Sudan that now form part of the herbarium of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium. He took a keen interest in flower gardening, and was responsible for three important publications of the firm: Les Fleurs de Pleine Terre, Le Manuel de Floriculture, and the Hortus Vilmorinianus. One of Philippe de Vilmorin's great services to genetics was the organization of the Fourth International Conference on Genetics, held in Paris, September 18–23, 1911.

During World War I, as a reserve officer in the French Army, Vilmorin was for a time attached to the Anglo-Indian Army in France as an interpreter, and later was a French Purchasing Agent in London.^[1]

Personal life

Philippe Vilmorin married Mélanie Gaufridy de Dortan; they raised six children:

Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec (1901–1972)
Louise de Vilmorin (1902–1969)
Henry de Vilmorin (1903–1961)
Olivier de Vilmorin (1904–1962)
Roger de Vilmorin (1905–1980), fathered by Alfonso XIII of Spain but recognized by Philippe.^[2]^[3]
André de Vilmorin (1907–1987)^[4]

Death

Philippe de Vilmorin died on 29 June 1917 aged 45. He had been ill in southern France for some months, exhausted by his missions between Paris and London.^[1]

The standard author abbreviation P.Vilm. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.^[5]

Selected works

Vilmorin, Philippe Lévêque de, Hortus Vilmorianus, catalogue des plantes ligneuses et herbacées existant en 1905 dans les collections de Vilmorin et dans les cultures de Vilmorin-Andrieux et cie à Verrieres le Buisson, Verrières, 1906.

References

^ ^a ^b Journal of Heredity. (1917). 8 (8): 355–356.
^ Jean-Fred Tourtchine (préf. Juan Balansó), Les manuscrits du C.E.D.R.E. – dictionnaire historique et généalogique, No. 6 : Le royaume d'Espagne, vol. 3, Cercle d'Études des Dynasties Royales Européennes, Paris, 1996, 213 p. ISSN 0993-3964
^ XII. Roger de Vilmorin, sur Dynastie capétienne, consulté le 09/09/2013
^ Louise de Vilmorin, la machine à plaire, created 21-03-2008
^ International Plant Names Index. P.Vilm.