Paul Alfred Pételot (1885–1965) was a French botanist and entomologist, whose primary scholarly focus was on medicinal plants in Southeast Asia. Some sources list his date of death as 1940, but several herbaria specimens are recorded as being collected by him up until 1944 including Carex kucyniakii (1944), Teijsmanniodendron peteloti (1941), Amalocalyx microlobus (1941), Amalocalyx microlobus (1942), Trichosanthes kerrii (1944) and Siraitia siamensis (1944). In addition, he continued to author publications through the 1950s, though it is possible these are posthumous.
Life Pételot was born in Saint-Max, France in 1885. His first professional posting was in 1908 as a member of the botany faculty at Nancy-Université. He then worked in Brazil and St. Petersburg, Russia before returning to France. In 1919 he was working in the cryptogamy department of the French National Museum of Natural History () and had been accepted as a member of the French Society of Plant Pathology () and the Botanical Society of France (). He then moved to Southeast Asia and in 1922 joined the entomological station of Cho-Gank (Tonkin) and became a professor at the Hanoi School of Agriculture. He moved to Saigon to become a lecturer at the Mixed Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy () and then led the botanical division of the Scientific and Technical Research Center (). He was elected as a laureate of the French Academy of Sciences ().
Work He collected a large number of botanical specimens from Southeast Asia which have been deposited in the French National Museum of Natural History.
Legacy He is the authority on botanical taxa including:
Several taxa are named in his honor including:
Petelotiella Gagnep. Aganosma petelotii Lý Allophylus petelotii Merr. Ardisia petelotii E.Walker Arisaema petelotii K.Krause Aristolochia petelotii O.C.Schmidt Artabotrys petelotii Merr. Artocarpus petelotii Gagnep. Asarum petelotii O.C.Schmidt Callicarpa petelotii Dop Camellia petelotii (Merr.) Sealy Carex petelotii Gross Casearia petelotii Merr. Cleistanthus petelotii Merr. ex Croizat Clethra Petelotii Dop & Troch.-Marq. Cryptochilus petelotii Gagnep. Digitaria petelotii Henrard Dioscorea petelotii Prain & Burkill Disepalum petelotii (Merr.) D.M.Johnson Dracontomelon petelotii Tardieu Elaeocarpus petelotii Merr. Elatostema petelotii Gagnep. Elytranthe petelotii Merr. Eremochloa petelotii Merr. Fosbergia petelotii Merr. ex Tirveng. & Sastre Glycosmis petelotii Guillaumin Habenaria petelotii Gagnep. Helicia petelotii Merr. Heptapleurum petelotii (Merr.) G.M.Plunkett & Lowry Homalium petelotii Merr. Hydrocotyle petelotii Tardieu Illicium petelotii A.C.Sm. Indocalamus petelotii (A.Camus) Ohrnb. Isachne petelotii A.Camus Lecanthus petelotii (Gagnep.) C.J.Chen Liparis petelotii Gagnep. Lithocarpus petelotii A.Camus Lysimachia petelotii Merr. Lysionotus petelotii Pellegr. Medinilla petelotii Merr. Microtropis petelotii Merr. & F.L.Freeman Mitrephora petelotii Weeras. & R.M.K.Saunders Paramignya petelotii Guillaumin Pedicularis petelotii P.C.Tsoong Phyllanthus petelotii Croizat Phyllocyclus petelotii (Merr.) Thiv Pogostemon petelotii Doan ex Gang Yao, Y.F.Deng & X.J.Ge Primula petelotii W.W.Sm. Quercus petelotii A.Camus Raphiocarpus petelotii (Pellegr.) B.L.Burtt Scirpus petelotii Gross Selaginella petelotii Alston Smilax petelotii T.Koyama Sporoxeia petelotii (Merr.) C.Hansen Staurogyne petelotii Benoist Teucrium petelotii Doan ex Suddee & A.J.Paton Thelypteris petelotii Ching Vaccinium petelotii Merr. Viola petelotii W.Becker ex Gagnep.
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