Sydney Howard Vines

“ BRONGNIART, ADOLPHE THÉODORE (1801–1876) , French botanist, son of the geologist Alexandre Brongniart, was born in Paris on the 14th of January 1801. He soon showed an inclination towards the study of natural science, devoting himself at first more particularly to geology, and later to botany, thus equipping himself for what was to be the main occupation of his life—the investigation of fossil plants. In 1826 he graduated as doctor of medicine with a dissertation on the Rhamnaceae ”

“ This is remarkable in that it contains the first account of any value of the development of the pollen; as also a description of the structure of the pollen-grain, the confirmation of G. B. Amici’s (1823) discovery of the pollen-tube, the confirmation of R. Brown’s views as to the structure of the unimpregnated ovule (with the introduction of the term “sac embryonnaire”) ; and in that it shows how nearly Brongniart anticipated Amici’s subsequent (1846) discovery of the entrance of the pollen-tube into the micropyle, fertilizing the female cell which then develops into the embryo. ”

“ In this book attention was also directed to the succession of forms in the various geological periods, with the important result (stated in modern terms) that in the Palaeozoic period the Pteridophyta are found to predominate ”