Brother L?on (1871-1955), born Joseph Sylvestre Sauget, had to leave France in 1904 when the government prohibited religious orders from teaching there. The Brothers of the Christian Schools spread out around the globe, including Cuba, where Brother L?on became an expert in the local flora.
At right, photo from the book Historia de la botanica in Cuba in which the author, Jos? Álvarez Conde, describes Hermano León as a modest scientific, affable, warm, always ready to help and with great affection for Cuba. In a story that the author relates, L?on dressed with the paraphernalia of an explorer responds to someone who asks about which farm he came from: "Mi Finca?, bueno, es toda mi finca Cuba." (My farm? my dear, my farm is all Cuba).
Conde, Jos? Álvarez, 1958. Historia de la botánica en Cuba. Publicaciones de la Junta nacional de Arqueologia y Etnologia, Habana, p. 305. | Biblioth?que du Jardin botanique de Montr?al
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