Career
He was the husband of mycologist Elisa Caroline Destrée de Bommer (1832-1910). Despite no formal training in botany, in 1856 he acquired a position as an assistant at the Jardin Botanique National de Belgique. Here, he later served as curator and as a provisional director
In 1870 he became a professor at the state horticultural school in Vilvorde, followed by a professorship in botany at the University of Brussels (1872).
Although he worked on different types of plants, he was primarily interested in ferns. At the time of his death, he was working on a monograph of the maidenhair fern genus, Adiantum.
The genus Bommeria (EFourn ex Baill) of the family Pteridaceae is named in his honor.