Biography.guide
Home › People › Botanist › Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul
Portrait of Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul

Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul

1815 – 1852

French botanist

Don't just read it — keep itBiographies to ownE-book · Audio · Video From $7 →

About Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul

Lived 1815 – 1852 (aged 36). Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul was a French botanist, surgeon, botanical collector and scientific collector.

Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul (23 July 1815 – 30 March 1852) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist.

He was born in Brest, the son of Joseph-François Raoul, a captain in the French Navy, and studied at the medical school in Brest. He was appointed surgeon, third class, in 1836. He took part in an expedition as surgeon-naturalist on the ship L'Aube under the command of Lieutenant Lavaud, to protect French colonists journeying to New Zealand on the emigrant vessel Comte de Paris. He landed at the Bay of Islands on 11 July 1840, and arrived in Akaroa, Banks Peninsula on 15 August 1840, a few months after the British had signed the Treaty of Waitangi with local Māori and claimed sovereignty over New Zealand. Raoul was based in Akaroa for the next two and a half years, making three visits to the Bay of Islands to collect botanical specimens and finally returning to France on L'Allier.

Upon his return, he worked at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (National Museum of Natural History) in Paris under the direction of Adolphe Brongniart (1801–1876) and Joseph Decaisne (1807–1882) to describe and classify the large number of specimens collected during his stay in New Zealand, representing around 450 species. In an appendix he enumerated "all the plants thus far known in New Zealand."

After a short expedition to Africa in 1846, he became medical professor at the port of Brest in 1849. In 1851 he published Guide hygiénique et médical pour les bâtiments de commerce qui fréquentent la Côte Occidentale d’Afrique ("Sanitary and medical guide for merchant vessels visiting the West Coast of Africa").

In the 'jardin des explorateurs' at Brest, his place of death is given as Lannilis.

The genus Raoulia was named after him by Joseph Dalton Hooker.

Biography shop

Don’t just read it —
keep it.

Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.

  • E-book
  • Audio
  • Video
Browse the shop — from $7

Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free

Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Also known as
Raoul, Etienne Fiacre Louis Raoul, Étienne Raoul

People in Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul?

French botanist (1815–1852)

When was Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul born?

Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul was born on 23 July 1815 in Brest.

When did Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul die?

Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul died on 30 March 1852 in Brest.

What was Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul's occupation?

Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul was a botanist, surgeon, botanical collector and scientific collector.

What nationality was Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul?

Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul was French.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul

· Wikidata: Q633323

· DBpedia: Étienne Raoul

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul. https://biography.guide/etienne-fiacre-louis-raoul/

MLA: "Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/etienne-fiacre-louis-raoul/.

Chicago: "Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/etienne-fiacre-louis-raoul/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Page generated 2026-09-27 05:23 UTC