Jean-Édouard Bommer

Joseph (Jean) Édouard Bommer (17 November 1829, Brussels – 29 February 1895, Brussels) was a Belgian botanist specializing in the field of pteridology. He was the husband of mycologist Elisa Caroline Destrée de Bommer (1832-1910).

Despite no formal training in botany, in 1856 he acquired a position as an assistant at the Jardin Botanique National de Belgique. Here, he later served as curator and as a provisional director. In 1870 he became a professor at the state horticultural school in Vilvorde, followed by a professorship in botany at the University of Brussels (1872).[1]

In 1862 he was a founding member of the Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique. He was also co-founder of the Société Belge de Microscopie.[1]

Although he worked on different types of plants, he was primarily interested in ferns. At the time of his death, he was working on a monograph of the maidenhair fern genus, Adiantum.[2] The genus Bommeria (E.Fourn. ex Baill.) of the family Pteridaceae is named in his honor.[3]