Joseph (Jean) Édouard Bommer (16 November 1829, Brussels – 19 February 1895, Brussels)[1] was a Belgian botanist specializing in the field of pteridology. He was the husband of mycologist Elise Caroline Destrée de Bommer (1832-1910).

Despite no formal training in botany, in 1856 he acquired a position as an assistant at the Jardin Botanique National de Belgique. Here, he later served as curator and as a provisional director. In 1870 he became a professor at the state horticultural school in Vilvorde, followed by a professorship in botany at the University of Brussels (1872).[2]

In 1862 he was a founding member of the Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique. He was also co-founder of the Société Belge de Microscopie.[2]

Although he worked on different types of plants, he was primarily interested in ferns. At the time of his death, he was working on a monograph of the maidenhair fern genus, Adiantum.[3] The genus Bommeria (E.Fourn. ex Baill.) of the family Pteridaceae is named in his honor.[4]

Selected publications

• Monographie de la classe des fougères : classification, 1867 - Monograph on ferns; classification.
• Notice sur le Jardin botanique de Bruxelles, 1871.
• Sur l'amylogenèse dans la règne végétal, 1874 - On amylogenesis within the plant kingdom.[5]

References

External links

• IPNI List of plants described and co-described by Jean-Edouard Bommer.