Gisèle Lamoureux (1942 – 2018)

Gisèle Lamoureux was a botanist, ecology activist and nature photographer. She was born in Montréal and educated at Université de Montréal and Université Laval, from which she graduated with a master's degree in Forest Ecology. In 1973, Lamoureux founded Fleurbec, a non-profit organization devoted to celebrating and sharing knowledge about the flora of Northeastern America. Since 1975, Fleurbec has published French-language guides to regional ecology that have sold over a third of a million copies. A prolific scientific writer and photographer, Lamoureux is known for having co-authored the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of the Island of Newfoundland and of the Islands of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and for standardizing the French names of 374 regional plants vulnerable to extinction. Lamoureux is the recipient of numerous honours, including the Order of Canada and l'Ordre national du Québec

“We tried to use ordinary words—some botanists criticized us, but most agreed with our choices in the end—instead of technical terms to describe our species. We created our descriptions by observing the live plant, not some dried specimens. It makes a big difference.”