 Augustin Pyramus de Candolle also spelled Augustin Pyrame de Candolle ( 4 February 1778 – 9 September 1841 ) was a Swiss botanist . René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle 's botanical career by recommending him at an herbarium . Within a couple of years de Candolle had established a new genus , and he went on to document hundreds of plant families and create a new natural plant classification system . Although de Candolle 's main focus was botany , he also contributed to related fields such as phytogeography , agronomy , paleontology , medical botany , and economic botany . 
