Upon his return to Paris, Napoleon granted him a pension of 3000 francs per year in return for the many specimens he bestowed upon the Museum of Natural History. The Empress Josephine was very fond of him and installed him as superintendent over the gardens at Malmaison, where many seeds he had brought from the Americas were cultivated. In 1813, he published his "Description of the Rare Plants Cultivated at Malmaison and in Navarre" (""). During this period, he also became acquainted with Gay-Lussac, Arago, and other eminent scientists and, after the abdication of Fontainebleau, vainly pleaded with Napoleon to retire to Venezuela. He was present at Josephine's deathbed.