René Charles Joseph Ernest Maire (French pronunciation:[ʁəneʃaʁlʒozɛfɛʁnɛstmɛʁ]; 29 May 1878,Lons-le-Saunier – 24 November 1949) was a French botanist and mycologist.[1] His major work was theFlore de l'Afrique du Nord in 16 volumes published posthumously in 1953. He collected plants from Algeria, Morocco, France, and Mali for the herbarium of theNational Botanic Garden of Belgium.[2]
His botanical career began very early. At 18, he penned a work on the local flora of theHaute-Saône, currently on display at the Natural History Museum ofGray. He collected plants for study inAlgeria andMorocco between 1902 and 1904.[3] After obtaining his PhD in 1905, he was a professor of botany at the Faculty of Sciences inAlgiers starting in 1911 where he specialised inphytopathology. He was put in charge of botanical research by the Moroccan government and was responsible for botanical studies in the Central Sahara. He was a member of a number of institutions, including theSociété mycologique de France and theSociété d'histoire naturelle de la Moselle based inMetz, which he joined in 1897 at the start of his career.[3] He was the author of numerous works, including important contributions between 1918 and 1931 on the flora of North Africa. Maire issued theexsiccataeExsiccata Hypodermearum Galliae orientalis 1896 with succeeding series andMycotheca Boreali-Africana (1912–1919).[4][5][6] He ended his career as the Rector of theUniversity of Algiers. Hismagnum opus wasThe Flora of North Africa, a 16-volume work published posthumously in 1953.
Among species he named or renamed are:
He also erected the familyPaxillaceae, noting its affinities withboletes, in 1902, based on anatomical similarities.[7] This was confirmed many years later by molecular studies firmly placing the generaPaxillus andGyrodon at the base of the clade containing the members of the genusBoletus.[8]
TheFrench Academy of Sciences awarded him the Prix Montagne for 1903.[9]
Several species were named in his honour, including fungi, such as the beechwood sickener (Russula mairei),Maireella (which is agenus of fungi in the classDothideomycetes),[10] René Maire's ringless Amanita (Amanita mairei) from Egypt,[11]Clitocybe mairei,Conocybe mairei,Clavicorona mairei,Cortinarius mairei,Galerina mairei,Hemimycena mairei, andLactarius mairei, among others, as well as some North African plants such as the ornamental grass Atlas fescue (Festuca mairei).[12] The genusMairetis from the Canary Islands and Morocco, (in theBoraginaceae family) is also named after him.[13]
Species names for Maire typically end inmairei.
