Lucien Quélet

Who was Lucien Quélet?

Lucien Quélet was a French mycologist and naturalist who discovered several species and was the founder of the Société mycologique de France, a society devoted to mycological studies.

Quélet, having been born in Montécheroux, Doubs, to a farmer, was soon orphaned, and spent his childhood with and was raised by his aunts. In his youth, he is known to have shown a great interest in mycology and botany in general, but also other subject areas such as ornithology and malacology, the study of mollusks. He was schooled at the Montbéliard college, and later studied medicine in Strasbourg.

In 1884, he founded the mycological society known as the Société mycologique de France, of which he became the first president. Several years after this, in 1888, Quélet wrote a book, Flore mycologique de la France et des pays limitrophes.

Quélet also described several species during his mycological research. Some are listed below:

Agaricus bitorquis

Amanita aspera

Bondarzewia montana

Clavariadelphus truncatus

Collybia cirrhata

Lepiota aspera

Lepiota castanea

Russula amethystina

Tricholoma pardinum

Xerocomellus armeniacus