Augustin Françoise Cesar Provençal de Saint-Hilaire (1779 – 1853)

Augustin Françoise Cesar Provençal de Saint-Hilaire was another important historical contributor to Central Brazilian botany. Between 1816 and 1822 he travelled through central and southern Brazil collecting over 20,000 plant specimens representing ca. 6,000 species, many of them new to science. In addition to his collections, the results of his botanical studies were published in several books and scientific articles. The works by which he is best known are the three-volumed Flora Brasiliae Meridionalis (published in conjunction with de Jussieu and J. Cambessèdes), Histoire des plantes le plus remarquables du Brèsil et de Paraguay, and the four-volumed work Voyages dans l’interieur du Brésil (1830-1851), this latter work now being available in print. It is an interesting read not only for its insights into natural history, but also for describing Brazil at a particularly fascinating sociological time poised between being a Portuguese colony and a monarchy (the Empire of Brazil), with the latter established in 1822 with the Emperor Pedro I at its head.

Woody cerrado species first described by Saint-Hilaire include Annona dioica, Davilla elliptica, Erythroxylum deciduum, E. suberosum, Kielmeyera speciosa, Simarouba versicolor and Strychnos pseudoquina.