Gisèle Lamoureux
Protecting and Promoting the Plants
Text from poster
Lamoureux was an expert in the native plants of eastern North America. She published many important field guides and was a major supporter of protecting rare plants, particularly the endangered wild garlic.
Additional Information
Born in Montreal in 1942, Lamoureux began her career as an elementary teacher, before obtaining a bachelor’s degree in botany from the University of Montreal and a master’s degree in forest ecology from Laval University, and studied nature photography.
In 1973, she founded Goupe Fleurbec, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the flora of northeastern America through publications such as guides, of which Lamoureux published nine. Her guides were designed to popularize botany to beginners and provide a definitive guide for experts. Her research led to the naming of over a quarter of Quebec’s vascular plants with French names where none had previously existed.
Through her advocacy, she led a movement to protect Quebec’s native wild garlic, which is a threatened species, leading to the Quebec government’s adoption of legislation protecting endangered native plants. She also led a successful movement to replace Quebec’s floral emblem, the fleur-de-lys – a lily native to Europe – with the Northern Blueflag, a lily native to Quebec.
