Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Plée, Auguste

PLÉE, Auguste, French botanist, b. in Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe, in 1787; d. in Fort Royal, Martinique, 17 Aug., 1825. He occupied a high official post, but was devoted to natural history. and embarked in 1819 for South America, charged by the government with the mission of exploring the continent as a botanist. After travelling extensively, and forming numerous collections of plants, he fell sick and returned to Martinique. His principal works are “Le jeune botaniste, ou entretiens d'un père avec son fils sur la botanique et la physiologie végétale, etc.” (2 vols., Paris, 1812); and a “Journal de voyage du botaniste Auguste Plée, à travers les Antilles, les Guyanes et le Brésil” (2 vols., Paris, 1828). The administration of the Paris museum published in 1830 a catalogue of Plée's collection in 3 vols.