Joseph Pitton de Tournefort

French botanist (1656-1708)

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (5 June 1656 – 28 December 1708) was a French botanist. He is notable as the first to make a clear definition of the concept of genus for plants. Botanist Charles Plumier was his pupil and accompanied him on his travels. He also said that fungi were plants. Today, they are a class of their own. They are different from plants and animals.