Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
In the eighteenth century, under the French natural scientist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who directed it from 1739 to 1788, the garden was doubled in size by an exchange of land with the Abbey, extending down to the banks of the Seine, and was greatly expanded with the addition of trees and plants brought by French explorers from around the world. One can see today a "Robinia" tree planted in 1636, and a sophora from 1747.