Mycological illustrators now began to show the inner workings of the fungi.
Plate: Elaphomyces [copperplate engraving]
Tulasne, Louis René, 1815-1885.
Fungi hypogæi. Histoire et monographie des champignons hypogés ...
[Parisiis, apud F. Klincksieck, 1851.]
Image Courtesy of the Farlow Library of Cryptogamic Botany
Louis René Tulasne (1815-1885) was born in Azay-le-Rideau, France, 12 September 1815. He studied law at Poitiers, but later turned his attention to botany and worked until 1842 in company with Auguste de Saint-Hilaire on the flora of Brazil. He was an assistant naturalist at the Museum of Natural History at Paris 1842-72; after this he retired from active work. In 1845 he was elected a member of the Academy to succeed Adrian de Jussieu.
Tulasne published numerous botanical works, the first appearing in 1845; he first wrote on the phanerogamia, as for instance, on the leguminosæ of South America, then on the cryptogamia, and especially on the fungi. He gained a world-wide reputation by his microscopic study of fungi, especially by his investigation of the small parasitic fungi. His research threw much light on the obscure and complicated history of their evolution. In this science he worked in collaboration with his brother Charles (1816-1885). The chief publications issued by the two brothers are: Fungi hypogæi (1851), and Selecta fungorum carpologia (1861-65), a work of the greatest importance for mycology, particularly on account of the splendid illustrations in the sixty-one plates.