Sept. 29, 2016: In my continuing homage to women botanists, one of the most boldest was Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe AND ,since she did it dressed as a man, she was the first cross-dressing woman botanist to do so. Those are some notable firsts.

Jeanne was born into an impoverished family in the south of France in 1740. In her early years, she Jeanne as JeanJeanne as Jeandeveloped a knowledge of medicinal plants and collected herbs as a living. When in her early twenties, a job opened up as a housekeeper to a young nobleman, Philibert de Commerson, whose friends might have called him "Phil" for short and that's what I'm going to do. Phil was an amateur botanist and also a recent widower. What with being in the same house and a mutual interest in plants, Jeanne and Phil became an "item". Back in those days though, noblepeople didn't marry their housekeepers so Jeanne became Phil's mistress, collecting assistant, and nurse, for Phil was often not in prime health.

Several years into their relationship, the French government called on Phil to accompany an expedition being led around the world to expand French holdings. as their ship botanist. "De Comm", whose friends might have called him that too and that's what I'm going to do for variety sake, was reluctant to go without his sidekick, Jeanne. Since the French navy strictly forbad women on their ships, the couple hatched a plan whereby Jeanne would impersonate a male sailor and get a job on board the ship De Comm was on.

The ruse worked. De Comm had Jeanne, the "male" sailor assigned as his assistant and to share his Philibert De Commerson or PhilPhilibert De Commerson or Philcabin. Jeanne was now "Jean", whose shipboard friends all called her that and thought she was a man. She bound her breasts every day and was secretive about her bathroom habits. Her shipmates were a little suspicious of her shyness and, at one point, one of them noticed a lack of proper genitalia. Jean explained that away by saying she had once been captured by Turkish pirates and had been castrated in captivity. That's some quick clever thinking!

DC (short for De Comm) was credited with the collecting of many new plants on the expedition including the Bougainvillea (named after the ship's captain Louis Antoine de Bouganville, or" Lou B" to his friends). The bougainvillea is that sweet smelling flowery vine so quintessential to the Deep South. The truth may be that it was" J" (short for Jean, who was really Jeanne) that was doing most of the collecting, since DC was often in poor health.

BougainvilleaBougainvilleaThe ruse ended when the expedition got to Tahiti. Evidently in Tahiti, transgender and cross dressing is no big deal and the natives quickly recognized and thereby exposed that Jean was Jeanne. Her crew mates responded by gang raping her, or so one story goes. Nine months later, Jeanne (who was no longer Jean now) gave birth to a child and was dumped off along with DC on the island of Mauritius (near Madagascar). Lou B, the captain, figured that was less embarrassing than taking them home and explaining the cock-up. DC and J stayed on the island with the French governor, who was also a botanist, for several years until DC died. Jeanne, being now without any financial support ,married a French soldier (no name, so I don't know what his friends called him) and they both returned to France. There was no brass band awaiting this first woman to circumnavigate the globe.

Fortunately, Jeanne lived the rest of her 67 years in modest comfort. The estate of DC paid her small stipend and, oddly enough, the French navy paid her a pension, probably as hush money.

What of the many plants that J and DC collected and classified? Seventy species honor Commerson in Solanum baretiaeSolanum baretiaetheir names; one, Solanum baretiae, honors Jeanne. S. baretiae was only discovered in 2010 by botanist Eric Tepe. Bless his heart, Tepe recognized the nomenclature injustice done to Jeanne Baret and finally recognized her efforts with this Peruvian plant, that is related to tomatoes and potatoes.

It took one bold, bodacious babe two centuries to break the green glass ceiling.

For further reading, there is the 2010 book by Glynis Ridley, "The Discovery of Jean Baret"

F & P