Education
He studied theology in Geneva, obtaining his consecration in 1820, and having an avid interest in natural history, he earned his degree in natural sciences in 1824.
He studied theology in Geneva, obtaining his consecration in 1820, and having an avid interest in natural history, he earned his degree in natural sciences in 1824.
As a young man he was influenced by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778–1841), and made contributions towards Candolle"s publication of Botanicon gallicum. Seu Synopsis plantarum in Flora gallica descriptarum (1828-1830). From 1831 to 1863 he served as a pastor in Eaux-Vives, Geneva, while in the meantime playing an active role in botany.
He specialized in research of cryptogams, including studies of European and exotic mosses, and taxonomic work involving the red algae genusCeramium.
In addition to his work with cryptogams, he conducted studies on the flowering plant familyPrimulaceae. In 1860-1861 he was president of the Société de physique et d"histoire naturelle de Genève.
Today, his herbarium is part of the "general herbarium" at the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques in Geneva.
He was also a corresponding member of the Société de biologie de Paris and of the Moscow Society of Naturalists.