Jean-Nicolas Céré

Jean-Nicolas Céré (20 August 1737 – 2 May 1810) was a French botanist and agronomist born on the Indian Ocean Isle de France (now Mauritius) but educated in Brittany and Paris. On the Isle de France he was befriended by Pierre Poivre (1719–1786), administrator of the Isle de France and Ile Bourbon (Réunion), who he assisted in the cultivation of spices. When Poivre was recalled to France in 1773 Céré was appointed Director of the Royal Garden at Monplaisir (now Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden), a position he held from 1775 to the time of his death in 1810.

During his time on the island Céré encouraged plant exchange, making a considerable contribution to economic botany by sending living plants to many countries, raising numerous peppers, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg trees which he distributed to the neighbouring French islands, and also introducing to Mauritius useful plants from Malaysia, America, China and elsewhere.

Details of Céré’s life, on which the following account is based, have been researched by J. Deleuze.

Jean-Nicolas Céré was the son of François-Toussaint Céré, a naval officer who, according to the memoirs of Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, was at the age of five posted to France to study, his father having died in Martinique. He arrived at Brest as a ward of the state. For several years he was a student at the College of Valves, finishing his studies in Paris. In 1757, he served in two campaigns under the command of Count Anne Antoine d'Aché being promoted to officer. In 1759 he settled on the Isle de France, his father leaving him a considerable fortune.

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