Descubes, Alexandre   (1850 - c.1920)

Born on 23 May July 1850, in Mauritius; died - unknown - usually given as 1920, India.

It is likely that Descubes was of French colonial descent.

In 1874, he was appointed as a surveyor and draughtsman in the Public Works Department in Mauritius, and in 1882 he resigned.

While in Mauritius he surveyed and mapped forests, rising to the position of Superintendent, Forest Map Records.

At some point after 1882 he moves to India.

His date of "Commencement of Service for Pension" in India is 18 January 1887.

It is not known who commissioned the huge number of illustrations of native and introduced plants he produced, but some are marked with the official stamp of the Imperial Institute in London, so it is possible they were Descubes' sponsor.

The illustrations display a deep understanding of botanical anatomy and include references to where the plant name was first published in the scientific literature and common names in English and Indigenous languages.

Descubes last known artwork is dated 1919 and some accounts suggest he died during the 1919-20 influenza epidemic in India.

His Australian connection relates to a series of illustrations of Eucalyptus species, presumably growing in India at the time, four of which are held by the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. These four illustrations are numbers 1433, 1436, 1439 and 1455 from a collection of at least 5000 held by a range of institutions and private collectors around the world. They sometimes appear in art auction catalogues.

Source: Extracted from:
Petrie, Alex (2025) 'Fronds' newsletter of Friends of ANBG, Dec. 2025, No.111, p.22
https://www.lewisginter.org/demystifying-descubes-at-lewis-ginter-botanical-garden/
Portrait Photo: none known.
Descubes illustration: Eucalyptus resinifera, Photo: C.Fernace.