The Genus Gouinia (Poaceae) and Dr. François-Marie-Gabriel Goüin

Şeref Etker

Dr. François-Marie-Gabriel Goüin (1818-1873) was a surgeon in the French navy and an amateur plant collector. Born in Merdrignac in Côtes-du-Nord, Bretagne, on 28th April 1818, he graduated from the Rennes University. Dr. Goüin joined the navy in 1841, and attended the expeditions in the Gulf of Guinea, Gabon, India and China from 1844 on. He was the sanitary officer for the crew of the navy based in Lorient during the Crimean War. Dr. François Goüin was decorated by the Ottoman and French governments for his outstanding service in the cholera epidemic of 1855-1856.

Dr. François-M.-G. Goüin was appointed director of the naval hospital at Vera Cruz following the French occupation of Mexico (1864-1867). Dr. Goüin was also attached to botanical research team of the French scientific mission, from his arrival in Vera Cruz in June 1865 to his departure in the March of 1867. He developed a particular interest in collecting specimens of grasses endemic on the eastern coast of Mexico, and the genus Gouinia of grasses was named by Eugène Fournier in his honour. He retired in 1867 to continue his botanical research in collaboration with the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. François-Marie-Gabriel-Goüin passed away on 18th October 1873 from typhoid fever which he contracted from a patient of his.

Keywords: François-Marie-Gabriel Goüin, Merdrignac, Gouinia, plant collectors, Vera Cruz, Mexico, French marine, Crimean War, Turkey.