Cosson is known for his botanical research in North Africa, and during his career he participated in eight trips to Algeria. In several of these he was accompanied by Henri-René Le Tourneux de la Perraudière (1831–1861),[1] whom he honoured in the naming of several species and genera (e.g., Perralderia, Galium perralderii). In 1863 he was elected president of the Société botanique de France, and from 1873 to 1889, he was a member of the Académie des sciences.[2]
In 1882 Jules Ferry, as Minister of Public Instruction, decided to create a mission to explore the Regency of Tunisia.[3] The expedition was headed by Cosson and included the botanist Napoléon Doumet-Adanson and other naturalists.[4] In 1884 a geological section under Georges Rolland was added to the Tunisian Scientific Exploration Mission.[5] Rolland was assisted by Philippe Thomas from 1885 and by Georges Le Mesle in 1887.[6]
With Jacques Nicolas Ernest Germain de Saint-Pierre (1815–1882), Cosson published the influential Atlas de la Flore des Environs de Paris.[7]
Botanical specimens collected by Cosson are held in many herbaria around the world, including the National Museum of Natural History, France, Harvard University Herbaria, the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Copenhagen University Botanical Museum, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Komarov Botanical Institute, among others.[8][9]
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