Every year, on the Day of the Dead, 30 million chrysanthemums are sold in France. This highlights the importance of plants in cemeteries and in funeral practices in modern times, particularly with the rise of landscaped cemeteries at the beginning of the 19th century, such as Père Lachaise (ELTIN 1984; BARIDON 1998; BERTRAND, GROUD, 2016). Simultaneously, with the development of family plots, graves were adorned with cut flowers, wreaths of flowers or planters (BERTRAND 2011). This history of plants in cemeteries invites us to identify the variations of use in different contexts, integrating it with the history of plants in cities (MATHIS, PEPY 2017; DUARTE RODRIGUES 2017), in rural areas, or in colonial empires, where metropolitan models inspired the use of plants in urban areas (BLAIS 2023; TAÏBI, EL HANNANI 2019). These contexts raise cultural and environmental questions about the use, representation, circulation or acclimatisation of vegetal species, which have recently been brought to light by researchers.

     The aim of this conference is to assess the extent to which these cultural practices vary from one environment to another, and how they influence the surroundings of burial sites, through the development of a specific market. How have these practices transformed spaces and environments in the short and long term? To what extent do these practices vary according to gender, age and social class? How does the use of plants in burial sites change representations and imaginaries of plants, cemeteries and the practices associated with plants? The aim is to analyse the place of plants in western graveyards from the 19th to the 21st century, from the perspective of a history attentive to representations and funeral or memorial practices associated with plants in western areas, as well as in colonial and post-colonial contexts. It also considers plants as living organisms and environmental issues linked to their use and plantation in burial sites.

     Beyond their spiritual dimension, plants had an aesthetic, hygienic and commemorative function put forward by religious days or after violent events, such as the First World War (BECKER, TISON, 2018). Garden design and horticulture, developing in the 19th century (PRÉVÔT, 2016), were included in cemetery layouts (LEFAY, 2015), to embellish these places of remembrance and visit. The species chosen included roses, myrtle, asphodel, aquilegia, pansies, forget-me-nots, everlasting flowers, yews, cypresses and chrysanthemums, which were roses introduced at the end of the 18th century and became fashionable in the 19th century (GOODY, 1994; AYLA et AYLARD 2001; BERTHERAT 2019). Each plant was associated with unique significances. The choice of plants for cemetery landscaping or grave ornamentation reflects cultural representations, the meanings attributed to plants, popular landscape designs and environmental constraints. This invites us to question the variations in the use of plants according to space, funerary practices or religious beliefs. It also leads us to question the integration of plants in the funerary heritage, whether natural or artificial (ceramic wreaths or bouquets, sometimes combined with pearl wreaths, plants sculpted on tombs, etc.), which in this case reinforces the idea of a space designed for eternity (URBAIN, 1978; DUCROS, 2009). These objects were therefore at risk of theft and damage (FAUDOT, 2024).

     To visit graves with flowers questions the articulation between the time of living plants, the ephemeral and fragile nature of cut flowers, and the time of funeral rites. This includes an analysis of cultivation practices specific to this market, production and marketing networks and their consequences on plants, environment and agricultural economies, as suggested by the replacement of vine cultivation by everlasting flowers in the department of Var (France) after the phylloxera (BERTRAND 2011). These landscapes of cultivated and spontaneous plants required a regular maintenance by professionals or people visiting the graves. This raised environmental issues, including the management of water resources, or of weeds and pests, sometimes with herbicides or crop protection products. The use of plants can therefore be analysed from the perspective of negotiations between human and non-human species.

     These layouts have contributed to the transformation of the landscape over a long period of time and raise real environmental concerns (DUHAU, GROUD, 2020). Vegetation, depending on its composition, can reveal the ancient presence or dereliction of graves. It preserves the memory of a forgotten space through “necrobotany” (LAUQUEUR, 2015) and can reveal the presence of a graveyard through the presence of yews, cypresses, or even hayes or landscaping made of native plants and weeds in prison cemeteries (TRIVISANI-MOREAU, OGHINĂ-PAVIE, NOÛS, 2020). Traces of these practices in landscapes question processes of dereliction, discovery as well as the evolution of perceptions, representations and imaginaries on these spaces.

     Finally, the development of landscaped cemeteries gave rise to new practices, from visiting graves with flowers to tourist visits. Some cemeteries, such as the Père Lachaise, were included in tourist guides (MATHIS et PÉPY, 2017). To what extent did these layouts imply other forms of appreciation or practices related to plants? The picking of botanical specimens at the tomb of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Ermenonville, included in herbaria, raises the question of the variation of perceptions and uses of plants in cemeteries, and the way it changed the significance of some plants.

     We invite young and experienced researchers as well as cemetery curators to contribute papers.

Organisation:

     The conference will take place at Avignon Université on the 11 and 12 of September 2025. The main language will be French, but papers in other languages (English, etc.) are welcomed if a short translation in French or English is proposed on the slides. Propositions of papers must include a title, a short abstract (300 words) and a biobibliography. They must be sent before the 15th of March 2025 on this page : https://pl-cim-myosotis.sciencesconf.org/. After evaluation by the scientific committee, a response will be sent in early May. Papers from the conference may be published afterwards.

Scientific committee : Régis Bertrand (Université Aix-Marseille, TELEMMe UMR 7303) ; Anne Carol (Université Aix-Marseille, TELEMMe UMR 7303) ; Ana Duarte Rodrigues (Université de Lisbonne, CIUHCT) ; Charles-François Mathis (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, IHMC UMR 8066) ; Cristiana Oghina-Pavie (Université d’Angers, TEMOS UMR 9016) ; Emilie-Anne Pépy (Université Savoie Mont-Blanc, LLSETI EA 3706) ; Isabelle Renaudet (Université Aix-Marseille, TELEMMe UMR 7303).

Organizing committee : Bruno Bertherat (Avignon Université, CNE UMR 8562) ; Louise Couëffé (Avignon Université, CNE UMR 8562) ; Margot Garcin (Avignon Université, Aix-Marseille Université, TELEMMe UMR 7303) ; Cristiana Oghina-Pavie (Université d’Angers, TEMOS UMR 9016).

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-BARIDON Michel, Les jardins paysagistes, jardiniers, poètes, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1998.

-BECKER Annette, TISON Stéphane, Un siècle de sites funéraires de la Grande guerre, Les passés dans le présent, Presses universitaires de Nanterre, 2018.

-BENARRECH Sarah, PHILIPPE Marc, « Femmes, cryptogamie et héritage rousseauiste au début du XIX^e siècle » in Le Journal de botanique, n°113, 2024, p.16-32.

-BERTHERAT Bruno, « La tombe de Jeanne (1877- ). Histoire et archéologie » in Revue d’histoire du XIX^e siècle, n°58, 2019, p.21-40.

-BERTHERAT Bruno (dir.), Les sources du funéraire à l’époque contemporaine, Avignon, éditions universitaires d’Avignon, 2015.

-BERTRAND Régis, CAROL Anne (dir.), Aux origines des cimetières contemporains. Les réformes funéraires de l’Europe occidentale, XVIII^e-XIX^e siècle, Aix-en-Provence, Presses Universitaires de Provence, 2016.

-BERTRAND Régis, Mort et mémoire. Provence, XVIII^e-XX^e siècle, une approche d’historien, Marseille, la Thune, 2011.

-BERTRAND Régis, GROUD Guénola (dir.), Patrimoine funéraire français : cimetière et tombeaux, Paris, éditions du Patrimoine, 2016.

-BLAIS Hélène, L’Empire de la nature. Une histoire des jardins botaniques coloniaux (Fin XVIII^e siècle – années 1930), Paris, Champ Vallon, 2023.

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-FAUDOT Marc, Les cimetières : des lieux de vie et d'histoires inattendues, Paris, Armand Colin, 2024.

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-LEFAY Sophie, « La naissance de la sensibilité à l’environnement à travers l’art des jardins (1770-1810) », Le Temps des médias, n°25, 2015/2, p. 70-84.

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-PRÉVÔT Philippe, Histoire des jardins, Paris, Ulmer, 2016.

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-TRIVISANI-MOREAU Isabelle, OGHINĂ-PAVIE Cristiana, NOÛS Camille, « De fougères en cimetière : Écriture et réécriture du végétal dans les récits de captivité de Pierre Gascar », L’esprit créateur, vol.60, n°4, 2020, p.81-93.

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