Jussieu [key], French family of distinguished botanists. Antoine de Jussieu, 1686–1758, was director of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. He edited Jacques Barrelier's posthumously published Plantae per Galliam, Hispaniam et Italiam observatae (1714) and the third edition (1719) of J. P. de Tournefort's Institutiones rei herbariae. Bernard de Jussieu, 1699–1777?, brother of Antoine, was director of the gardens at the Trianon, Versailles; there he arranged the plants according to his new system of classification, which he never published. He revised (1725) Tournefort's Histoire des plantes qui naissent aux environs de Paris. Another brother, Joseph de Jussieu, 1704–79, accompanied La Condamine to South America, where he remained until c.1771. He introduced into Europe many plants, including the heliotrope.
A nephew, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, 1748–1836, assisted Bernard de Jussieu, whose system of classification by natural affinities he elaborated in Genera plantarum (1789), which influenced later systems of classification. He was professor at the Museum of Natural History, Paris, and organized its botanical collection. His son, Adrien de Jussieu, 1797–1853, also professor of botany at the museum, wrote a standard text, Cours élémentaire de botanique (1842–44).
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