Louis René Tulasne

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Louis René Tulasne, aka Edmond Tulasne (September 12, 1815 - December 22, 1885) was a French botanist who was born in Azay-le-Rideau. He originally studied law at Poitiers, but his interest later turned to botany.^[1] As a young man he accompanied botanist Auguste de Saint-Hilaire (1779-1853) to South America to study the flora of Brazil. From 1842 until 1872 he worked as a naturalist at the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Tulasne's specialized study was the science of mycology. His microscopic investigation of fungi, particularly parasitic species, contributed much to the understanding of the complexities of its nature and development. He is credited with introducing the concept of "pleomorphy" concerning fungi.^[2] Pleomorphy states that an individual fungus, growing in different substrates can have dramatically different forms. Several mycological species, as well as the genera Tulasneinia and Tulasnella are named after him.

Tulasne published over 50 scientific articles during his career. Some of his best work was done in collaboration with his brother, Charles Tulasne (1816-1884), such as Fungi hypogaei (1851) and the three-volume Selecta fungorum carpologia (1861-65). The latter work is known for its superb detailed illustrations, which were created by Charles Tulasne.

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