Jean-Franҫois Vandermaelen (1797-1872), naturaliste et collectionneur de plantes

Abstract

SUMMARY: Jean-François Vandermaelen is the brother of the famous cartographer Philippe Vandermaelen. Together they founded in 1830 the Etablissement geographique de Bruxelles, a polymorphic institution devoted to Geography and Natural History. François was a horticulturist. He designed the garden of the Establishment and he bought greenhouses in order to collect, cultivate and multiply a prodigious amount of exotic plants and precious flowers. At the same time, he set up a school of botany. His horticultural institution was a pattern in Europe. However, his tentative in the field of botanical publications fell through, as well as in the timber industry. François Vandermaelen died a broken man, forgotten by all.