Abstract
Simon says that I’m “the grandfather of tree architecture” ; thank you, Simon. The sad news is that we were two grandfathers, but my friend Professor Roelof Oldeman died a few years ago.
Today I’ll present some general problems about tree architecture.
After my years as a student, I was a « Linnean botanist », meaning that to identify a tree, I was looking for its sexuality, paying no attention to its vegetative organs. Therefore my first visit to a tropical forest was painful as I could not see any flowers on trees, they were too high. As the « Floras » were also Linnean, I was unable to identify any tropical tree.
Fortunately, the chief of an African village gave me a powerful tip: he was an excellent forest botanist, but not Linnean; he said « No need to look at flowers of big tree; even from a great distance, just look at their general silhouette ». Later, in other tropical countries, I realized that local people identify trees by looking at what we now call tree architecture.
So, is it useful to know tree architecture? YES, to identify trees in tropical forests.
Can we use architecture as a systematic identification tool? It depends on the level: in genera and families I would say NO, it is risky, as two related plants often have different architectures, and two unrelated plants may grow the same way. At the species level, I say YES: to describe a new species should include its architecture, as it is a stable element of the diagnosis. In some ways, architecture seems to be orthogonal with systematic identification – it is highly relevant, but also independent.
What about the genetics of architecture? What happens if we cross two related plants having different architectures? It has been tried by horticulturists; I guess the offspring will have the architecture of the mother. The genetics of tree architecture is an important question, and I hope we may learn more during our Symposium.
Biography
Born in France, 15th April 1938. Married, four children. Specialized in tropical botany - Doctorate thesis on the tribe Gardenieae (Rubiaceae) in Ivory Coast (1966). Resident with families in Ivory Coast, Popular Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia. Travelled in the tropics in Africa, America, Asia, Melanesia.
Scientific specialization: plant architecture, in collaboration with Roelof Oldeman (Wageningen university); biological exploration of tropical forests’ canopies with a hot-air blimp and the « canopy raft » (1989-2012) ; tropical forests ecology.
Teaching at the universities of Paris-Orsay, Montpellier, Kuala Lumpur and Pasadena.
Retired in 1999.
Main publications :
1975, Kuala Lumpur, Editor : Penerbit Universitti Malaya. An essay on the architecture and dynamic of growth of tropical trees. Co-author: Roelof Oldeman. Translated from French by Benjamin C. Stone.
1978, Berlin, Editor: Springer-Verlag. Tropical Trees and Forests; an Architectural Analysis. Co-authors: Roelof Oldeman and Barry Tomlinson.
2002, Portland, Editor: Timber Press. In Praise of Plants. Translated from French by David W. Lee.
2004, Palavas, Éditions JPC : Architectures de plantes.
2021, Arles, Éditions Actes Sud. Le Radeau des Cimes ; trente ans d’exploration des canopées forestières équatoriales. Co-auteurs : D. Cleyet-Marrel, G. Ebersolt, O. Pascal.
2024, Arles, Éditions Actes Sud. La Beauté du Vivant.