Pierre Richer de Belleval

In 1587, immediately after completing his M.D., Belleval married the daughter of a deceased seigneur de Prades (who had enriched himself by trade and purchased the estate) near Montpellier.

His services towards the people of Pezenas during an epidemic disorder, brought him under the protection of the governor of Languedoc, Henri de Montmorency.

Belleval devoted all of his time and money to the Jardin des plantes de Montpellier, which was the first botanical garden in France.

Richer de Belleval published a catalog of the garden in 1598 and a French treatise in 1605, recommending an inquiry into the native plants of Languedoc.

[2][3] Richer de Belleval did not live to see the work published and the plates remained neglected in the hands of Gouarin's family.

Pierre Richer de Belleval.
Chicorium Intybus , from the publication Démonstrations élémentaires de botanique by Gilibert (1796).