Anselme Riedlé was gardener at the Jardin des Plantes

Jardin des Plantes

The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It is one of seven departments of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement, Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine and covers 28 hectares .- Garden plan :The grounds of the Jardin des...

 who was invited to join the Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas-Thomas Baudin was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company...

 scientific expedition (1800–1804) in the corvettes Géographe

French corvette Géographe

The Géographe was a 20-gun Serpente class corvette of the French Navy.She was named Uranie in 1797, and renamed Galatée in 1799, still on her building site, as her builder refused to launched her, as he had not been paid...

and Naturaliste

Naturaliste

Naturaliste is the eighth album by the Australian band, The Lucksmiths released in 2003 on Candle Records .-Track listing:# "Camera-Shy" – 3:36# "The Sandringham Line" – 5:26# "Take This Lying Down" – 3:24...

to chart the coast of New Holland

New Holland (Australia)

New Holland is a historic name for the island continent of Australia. The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman as Nova Hollandia, naming it after the Dutch province of Holland, and remained in use for 180 years....

 (Australia), make scientific observations and collect natural history specimens. This was possibly the largest such voyage of its kind in the early nineteenth century, with a team of 22 savants (scientists, artists and engineers). He was Head Gardener to a team of 5 gardeners that served on the voyage, the others being Antoine Sautier

Antoine Sautier

Antoine Sautier was a student gardener who was invited to join the Baudin scientific expedition in the corvettes Géographe and Naturaliste to chart the coast of New Holland , make scientific observations and collect natural history specimens...

, Cagnet, Merlot (listed as 'an African') and Antoine Guichenot

Antoine Guichenot

Antoine Guichenot or Guichenault was "gardener's boy" on the 1801—1803 French scientific voyage to Australia under Nicolas Baudin, and the 1817 voyage under Louis de Freycinet...

. Baudin is listed as his friend on this expedition as they had worked previously together collecting in the West Indies (U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico).

Life

Born in Irsee, Schwaben, Germany in 1775 and his death in Timor where he collected specimens in the region of Kupang until his death on 23 September 1801. Baudin also died later on the same expedition.

Collections

His collecting localities were Indonesia (Nusa Tenggara Timur); Canary Islands; Mauritius; Australia (Western Australia); Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Virgin Islands (USA). His plant collections are held in herbaria in Paris, Geneva, the British Museum, Kew and Berlin and wood samples he collected with Guichenot are stored in Paris. Herbaria B, BM, FI, FI-W, G?, G-DC, G-DEL, H, K, L, MO, MPU, NY, P, PC, P-JU.
A manuscript journal he maintained for part of the voyage is stored at the Natural History Museum in Paris.

Honours

Commemorated in the names Riedleia A.P.DC. and Riedléja Hassk.

See also

• List of gardener-botanist explorers of the Enlightenment
• European and American voyages of scientific exploration
  European and American voyages of scientific exploration
  The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment...
  
  

Further reading

• Chaudhri, M.N., Vegter, H.I. & de Bary, H.A., Index Herb. Coll. I-L: 423, 434 (1972)
• Vegter, H.I., Index Herb. Coll. N-R: 761 (1983)