He studied pharmacology informally at Cognac and Angoulême, and then under Robiquet in Paris, where he acquired a knowledge of botany from Desfontaines and Louis Richard.

In April 1810, he was appointed pharmacist in the military marine, and from July 1811 to the end of 1814, he served in Antwerp.

The wreck of the Uranie in the Falkland Islands, at the close of 1819, deprived him of more than half the botanical collections he had made in various parts of the world.

In 1831, Gaudichaud sailed on L'Herminie to South America, visiting Chile, Brazil and Peru.

[4][5] Also, a genus of South American plants in the family Malpighiaceae, Gaudichaudia, is named after Gaudichaud.