André-Pierre Ledru (January 22, 1761 - 1825) was a French botanist best known for participating in Nicolas Baudin's 1797-98 expedition to the Canary Islands and West Indies. Ledru was born in Chantenay-Villedieu, La Sarthe, and initially trained to join the priesthood, becoming a vicar. When the French Revolution (1789 - 1799) broke out, and religion was outlawed, he changed paths, focusing on botany. He returned to his home of La Sarthe. When Sarthe was devastated by the French Civil War, he fled to Paris, attempting to avoid anti-clerical revolutionaries. In 1796, when the famous explorer Nicolas Baudin (1754 - 1803) began organizing a new voyage on behalf of the Paris Museum of Natural History, this time to the West Indies, Ledru was appointed official botanist. The Baudin expedition focused on Puerto Rico, where Ledru collected plant and other samples. When the voyage returned to France, he turned to teaching law and physics in La Sarthe. He later took part in the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815), where he was wounded at the 1906 Battle of Jena. He published an account of his travels, Voyage aux isles de Tenerif, La Trinite, St. Thomas, Ste. Croix, et Porto Rico…, in 1810. In 1816, he again moved to Paris, before retiring to Le Mans, where he focused on scientific works until he died in 1825. Today, the Le Mans city museum houses his personal herbarium.



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