| Julien Reverchon | |
| Birthname: | Julien Reverchon |
| Birth Date: | 3 August 1837 |
| Birth Place: | Diémoz, France |
| Burial Place: | La Reunion Cemetery |
| Nationality: | French |
| Occupation: | Botany |
Julien Reverchon (3 August 1837 – 30 December 1905) was a French botanist.
Reverchon was born on August 3, 1837, in Diemoz, France, to Jacques Maximilien and Florine (Pete) Reverchon. He was the brother of .
Reverchon, who displayed an interest in the natural world at a young age, amassed a collection of nearly 2,000 species of plants with his brother during his childhood.
His father, a follower of the utopian social philosophy of Charles Fourier, decided to join Victor Prosper Considerant in La Réunion, near Dallas, in its construction of a phalanstère.[1]
The family arrived at La Réunion in December of 1856 and learned of the failure of the Fourier colony. They then bought a small farm in the vicinity, and Reverchon began studying the local flora.
Reverchon married Marie Henri on 24 July 1864. They had two sons who would die of typhoid fever in 1884.[2]
After abandoning botany for a few years, Reverchon started collecting plants in 1869, when he made an expedition to collect fossils with Jacob Boll in West Texas. With subsequent collections, he contributed to the production of noted floras by Asa Gray and Charles Sprague Sargent and the enrichment of many American collections.
Reverchon taught botany in Dallas toward the end of his life. Upon his wife's death in 1901, Reverchon moved to the home of his adopted son, R. M. Freeman, and he died there of Bright's disease on December 30, 1905. At the time of his death, more than 2,600 species were cultured in his farm, and he possessed a rich herbarium of 20,000 specimens.
His farm is kept by the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.
The city of Dallas named Reverchon Park in his honor.[3] [4] [5]
In 2012, artist Kevin Obregon collaborated with the Friends of Reverchon Park to create a giant puppet of Julien Reverchon for Bridge-O-Rama's Parade of Giants, celebrating the opening of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge[6] [7] [8] [9]