His naturalist friend Richard Bernaer speaks of Robert Portal as a “stationary traveler”. The latter is accustomed to botanical monographs in which he describes with rare detail the plants of distant lands where he will never visit. Robert Portal has hardly left his native Vals-près-le-Puy and the small family house with gray shutters on rue Louis Brioude.
Robert Portal, the “eco-friendly” who we frequently meet cycling between Vals and Le Puy, sunglasses on his nose, graying hair blowing in the wind. But also the musician passionate about Django Reinhardt. Who has forgotten Newtone experience, the group he formed with his now deceased brother Henri-Claude? The duo of guitarists produced several records with the help of Franck Lhermet for recording and mixing.
A 13th opus prefaced by Maryse Tort
Robert Portal is therefore also keen on botany. His guilty pleasure is grasses. He has just published a very detailed work on “the genus Avena throughout the world”, after other studies: Bromus from France, Festuca from France, and even the genus Phalaris. He’s free, Robert, we want to hum. Because it has been “traveling” with the wind for over thirty years, playing with the spikelets. Its 13th opus is prefaced by Maryse Tort, famous botanist from the University of Clermont-Ferrand. The work is the result of several years of work, mainly since 2017.
Avena as…annual oats. We are talking here about wild oats, which are much more widespread in the Mediterranean basin than in Europe, in Morocco in particular. “Oats are said to have originated in the fertile crescent. They spread under human influence,” explains Robert Portal. Moroccan botanists also came to Vals to meet the man who devoted a large part of his life to the plants of their country and to exchange information on their respective research. The Moroccans brought him 280 specimens that they had collected. Their mission is funded by an environmental defense organization based in Missour, the Emirates Center for Wildlife Propagation (ECWP).
Along with wheat, barley, rye and rice, oats are one of the most widely used cultivated cereals in Eurasia. “Humanity owes a lot to these grasses which enter the diet from larger grains, induced by the modification of wild species. Traces of wheat and barley cultivation have been found in archaeological sites, but it seems that the cultivated forms of rye and oats are more recent,” specifies Robert Portal.
The author already had a wealth of information. He also had herbaria lent to him and carried out in-depth investigations. Richard Bernaer still evokes the irresistible pleasure of the monograph as “an almost manic enjoyment of wanting to embrace everything about a subject, without omitting a facet, without losing a crumb”.
A page is dedicated to each plant. The author has identified around forty species. The reader has a history, a description of the genera(s), groups, series, taxa. All supplemented with lots of information: abbreviations, herbarium acronyms, edition, chronology, lexicon, nomenclature, synonyms, hybrids… It is difficult to identify certain oats based on morphological criteria alone. “For a correct identification, this results in the need to resort to chromosomal counts, karyotype analyses, experimental hybridizations” specifies Robert Portal.
His detailed descriptions refer to drawings in Indian ink, or sometimes in color, which makes the monograph overall very accessible. The author also claims to be more of an artist than a scientist. As incredible as it may seem, Robert Portal is in contact with botanists from all over the planet. His descriptions are the result, for example, of fruitful exchanges with specialists, such as Gideon Ladizinsky, geneticist and Valéry Malécot, teacher-researcher, expert in systematic nomenclature. Robert Portal also publishes the results of observations resulting from cultivation in his own garden in Vals. He has access to the databases of numerous research centers without having internet at home. He has to go through the Val Vert neighborhood center, if only to collect his emails.
A wonderful storyteller
“Patience and length of time are more than strength or rage” could be Valladier’s motto. Above all, don't imagine that digital technology is an obstacle for him. It is above all a lifestyle choice.
“Avena” represents a hymn to biodiversity, at the same time as the book reconciles those who have long been at odds at school and college with natural science. Robert Portal is a wonderful storyteller.
We can't resist the urge to tell this one which demonstrates that we can risk our lives for passion. Avena damascena or Damascus oat was described in 1972 by Tibor Rajhathy. Robert Portal reports his misadventure while the botanist was in a wadi 60 km north of the Syrian capital. After collecting plants, he was surrounded by Syrian soldiers who confiscated all his equipment. The arrest was followed by two days of police custody. It was only after the intervention of the Canadian embassy (the botanist was Canadian) that he could be released with the obligation to immediately leave Syria. Robert Portal says: “Luckily, he took care to put some seeds in his pocket. Back in Canada, he cultivated them. Plants from these greenhouse cultures were used to serve as a type. Holotype and isotype are preserved in a herbarium in Ottawa. Le Valladier grew them himself in his garden.
In her preface, Maryse Tort indicates: “It combines great scientific rigor with a representation whose artistic quality, associated with the documentary richness, leaves the reader speechless with admiration”.
Book. The Avena genus around the world by Robert Portal – 232 pages, format 21 x 29 cm at the price of 45 euros. To order from the author, 16 rue Louis Brioude in Vals-près-le-Puy. Tel: 04.71.09.57.65.
