He was born in
Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, now a part of
Seraing, Belgium. Taton graduated from the in 1937 with a degree in
agronomy and served in the military from 25 August 1937 to 25 February 1939. From 1941 to 1945 he served as an associate with the (Institute of National Parks of the Belgian Congo), identifying
herbarium specimens collected in Albert National Park, now known as
Virunga National Park. In November 1945 he became the assistant to the Division of Botany at the INEAC (). In 1952, he continued his studies in the
United States at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison and the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, taking courses in
agrostology (study of
grasses). From September 1956 to February 1961, Taton was the head of the INEAC station in
Kivu. During his time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he collected 1624 herbarium specimens, which he deposited at the botanical garden in
Brussels () and
Yangambi. Beginning in July 1961 Taton worked on the flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Rwanda, and
Burundi at the Belgian Institute for the encouragement of scientific research overseas () and then at the Belgian Ministry of Education and Culture. From April 1963 to June 1966 Taton was used by the
Food and Agriculture Organization as a representative in Kivu and
Kinshasa and then later placed on an agrostology mission in
Morocco. While in Morocco, he collected nearly 450 herbarium specimens, of which only 51 reached the
National Botanic Garden of Belgium, the rest being lost in transit. He then continued to work on his treatment of the flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, which eventually became his 1972
Flora of Central Africa (). In July 1971, he was promoted to chief of the section at the Department, focusing on the herbarium collections of tropical Africa. Taton retired on 1 February 1979, though he continued to collaborate on studies on the flora of Central Africa until his death on 27 October 1989 in his home in
Wezembeek-Oppem. == Personal ==