Species Vallota miniata

For Antoine Vallot (1594–1671), French botanist, physician, count of Archiâtres. He studied at the University of Montpellier and became physician to Anne of Austria (1601–1666), the Queen Consort of France, and to her son, Louis XIV of France. Vallot kept a diary of the king’s health, Journal de la Santé du Roi Louis XIV de l’Année 1647 à l’Année 1711. (He was a great believer in emetics as a cure for sickness.) He was made director of the king’s botanical garden, Jardin du Roi, later to become the Jardin des Plantes. When Vallot took over, the garden was in a state of decline, but with the help of Pierre Magnol (1658–1715), professor of botany at Montpellier, and other botanists (Denis Joncquet and Guy-Crescent Fagon), he created this world-famous garden.