He is truly second to none in the glory of Medicine and Botany. It was not through favoritism, but through his own merit, that Louis the Great King Louis XIV of France (1638–1715) chose him alone as his personal Physician from among thousands of doctors.

PITTONIA.

Plate 33

Pittonia named after Joseph Pitton de Tournefort is a genus of plant with a single-petaled flower, bell-shaped, spherical, and divided into many segments. From its calyx the outer protective layer of a flower rises a pistil the seed-bearing organ of the flower fixed into the lowest part of the flower like a nail; this later develops into a fruit, which is a soft or spherical berry full of juice, typically containing two oblong seeds.

The species of Pittonia are:
The larger tree-like Pittonia, with leaves like wall-germander.
The smaller tree-like Pittonia, with leaves like wall-germander.
The low-growing Pittonia, with leaves like alkanet.
Climbing Pittonia with snow-white berries marked with black spots.
Shrubby Pittonia, with fleshy, hairy, and blunt leaves.
The very hairy and very branched Pittonia, with white berries.
Cluster-blooming Pittonia, with very foul-smelling tobacco-like leaves.

The most illustrious Master Joseph Pitton Tournefort, of Aix-en-Provence, Doctor of Medicine at Paris, member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and Professor of Botany at the Royal Garden, author of the "Institutions of Botany" and "The Paris Botanist," famous for his travels to Eastern lands. He is the nephew of Jean Scholastique Pitton, a most learned Doctor of Medicine, annalist of his homeland and Provence, and an irreproachable historian. His family has been honored by the magistrates of his homeland, just as his family has honored the homeland through their service as magistrates.

BROSSÆA.

Plate 17.

Brossæa named in honor of Guy de la Brosse (c. 1586–1641), founder of the Royal Botanical Garden in Paris is a genus of plant with a single-petaled flower, also bell-shaped, but resembling a truncated cone, sitting in a many-cleft calyx. From its center rises a pistil which later develops into a round fruit with five capsules containing tiny seeds; it is enclosed by the calyx itself, which then becomes fleshy, soft, and spherical, opening through five fissures.

I have seen only one species of Brossæa.
Shrubby Brossæa with a scarlet flower and black fruit.

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