Morren, Charles |
| BOTANIST (BELGIUM) |
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BORN 3 Mar 1807, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen - DIED 17 Dec 1858, Liège BIRTH NAME Morren, Charles François Antoine GRAVE LOCATION Liège: Cimetière de Robermont, Rue de Herve 46 (Parc 36-10-1) |
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Charles Morren taught physics at the University of Ghent from 1831 to 1835. During that period he studied medicine himself and he graduated in 1835. Soon be became professor of botany at the University of Liège, a position that he held until 1854. He was also the director of the Botanic Garden in Liège. He discovered that the vanilla flower was pollinated by the Melipone bee that only lived in Mexico and thus solved a mystery that had existed since Hernán Cortés had brought the vanilla flower to Europe. In 1836 he also discovered an artificial pollination process that was important to the vanilla industry in the French colonies. In 1853, Morren came up with the term phenology for the studying of the seasonal cycles of plants and animals. Together with his son Charles Jacques Édouard Morren (1833-1886) he published "La Belgique horticole, journal des jardins et des vergers" (1851-1885). |
| Images |
 The grave of Charles Morren at the Cimetière de Robermont, Liège. Picture by Androom (8 Mar 2003) |
