Female mandrake plant (Atropa mandragora or Mandragora officinarum).. French botanist Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard was born around 1742 at Aubepierre-en-Barrois (Haute Marne) and died on 26 September 1793 in Paris. He studied at Angers, and later illustrated and published a number of botanical and mycological works on French flora. He studied art and engraving under Francois Martinet, the celebrated artist of many of Buffon's natural history books. His first book was "Flora of Paris" (1776-80), a re-edition of Sebastien Vaillant's work according to the Linnaean system. From 1780 until his death in 1793 he worked on the "Herbier de la France," a complete flora of French plants with over 600 plates. It was probably the first botanical work completely colour printed without retouching by hand. Blunt calls it "an attractive work, illustrated with colored engravings that are both delicate and accurate." Gill Saunders wrote in "Picturing Plants" (1995): "The Herbier is one of the m