Charles L. L’Héritier de Brutelle was an important government official both before and during the French Revolution, but he was also a talented amateur botanist. His life of public service was combined with botanical studies and close associations with the scientific community of France. He initiated three major publications in botany, but not one of them was ever completed. Stirpes novae aut minus cognitae, for example, was supposed to be a two-volume work, but only six fascicles of it were published. These contain several plates by P. J. Redouté, the famous artist and close friend of L’Héritier’s who had been one of the first individuals in Paris to recognize his extraordinary artistic talents. After his death, L’Héritier’s herbarium of 8000 species was acquired by the botanist, A. P. de Candolle, and became part of his private herbarium.