Jean Linden

Belgian botanist, explorer, horticulturist, and businessman, specialising in orchids, on which he wrote a number of exceptional books. He went on several expeditions and made a detailed study of orchid growth conditions in their natural habitat. His findings revolutionised the cultivation of orchids under European conditions. Before his research, orchids were being kept at temperatures far greater than their needs, resulting in a high mortality rate. In Brussels, Linden became for a brief while the director of the Brussels zoological and botanical garden but gradually concentrated on orchid culture, making use of three types of conservatory with temperatures ranging from cool to warm. Under these conditions his orchids thrived. With this success, he created an orchid empire that, at its peak, had branches in Brussels, Ghent, and Paris, winning awards at exhibitions in London, Paris, and St. Petersburg. Linden married Anna Reuter in Luxembourg on 13 October 1845. His son Lucien eventually took over all his business interests and published books on orchids before and after Jean's death. Jean Jules Linden died on 12 January 1898, aged 80, in Brussels. Link to Wikipedia biography