Clusius, Carolus
French botanist
(Latin),French Charles De L'écluse, or Lescluse
born Feb. 19, 1526, Arras, Fr.
died April 4, 1609, Leiden, Neth.
botanist who contributed to the establishment of modern botany.
Clusius developed new garden cultures and cultivated plants, such as the tulip, potato, and chestnut, from other parts of the world. He was the director of the Holy Roman emperor's garden in Vienna (1573–87) and spent the later years of his life teaching in Leiden, where his cultivation of tulips in the botanic garden was the beginning of the Dutch tulip bulb industry.