Auguste Taton

Auguste Simon Taton (25 January 1914–27 October 1989) was a Belgian botanist who worked primarily in the Belgian Congo in Africa (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

He was born in Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, now a part of Seraing, Belgium. Taton graduated from the Institut Agronomique de Gembloux in 1937 with a degree in agronomy and served in the military from 25 August 1937 to 25 February 1939. From 1941 to 1945 he served as an associate with the Institut des Parcs nationaux du Congo belge (Institute of National Parks of the Belgian Congo), identifying herbarium specimens collected in Albert National Park, now known as Virunga National Park. In November 1945 he became the assistant to the Division of Botany at the INEAC (Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique au Congo Belge). In 1952, he continued his studies in the United States at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, taking courses in agrostology (study of grasses).

From September 1956 to February 1961, Taton was the head of the INEAC station in Kivu. During his time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he collected 1624 herbarium specimens, which he deposited at the botanical garden in Brussels (Jardin botanique de l’Etat à Bruxelles) and Yangambi. Beginning in July 1961 Taton worked on the flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi at the Belgian Institute for the encouragement of scientific research overseas (Institut belge pour l’encouragement de la recherche scientifique d’outre-mer) and then at the Belgian Ministry of Education and Culture.

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