Petter Adolf Karsten

{{short description|Finnish mycologist}} thumb|right|200px|Petter Karsten '''Petter Adolf Karsten''' (16 February 1834 – 22 March 1917) was a Finnish mycologist, the foremost expert on the fungi of Finland in his day, and known in consequence as the "father of Finnish mycology".

Karsten was born in Merimasku near Turku, studied at the University of Helsinki, and then moved to the inland of Tammela, where he spent most of his life with teaching botany and doing research at the Mustiala Agriculture Institute (now the Faculty of Agriculture of the HAMK University of Applied Sciences).

He amassed a vast collection, both by his own efforts and those of his correspondents, and named about 200 new genera and 2,000 new species. Between 1861 and 1870 Karsten edited the exsiccata series ''Fungi Fenniae exsiccati. Samling af Finska svampar'' with 1,000 numbers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fungi Fenniae exsiccati. Samling af Finska svampar: IndExs ExsiccataID=846477448 |website=IndExs - Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=http://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=846477448 |access-date=26 May 2024}}</ref> In his mycological studies he extensively used the microscope and can be considered as the pioneer of fungal microscopy. ''Karstenia'', the international journal of mycology published by the Finnish Mycological Society, is dedicated to Karsten.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karstenia {{!}} The Journal of the Finnish Mycological Society |url=https://karstenia.fi/ |access-date=2023-10-02 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Honours== In 1885, botanist Elias Magnus Fries published ''Karstenia'' is a genus of fungi in the order Rhytismatales. It was named in Petter Adolf Karsten's honour.<ref>{{cite web |title=Synonymy: ''Karstenia'' Fr. |url=http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/SynSpecies.asp?RecordID=2548 |publisher=Species Fungorum. CAB International |accessdate=2016-01-30}}</ref>

In 1889, he published ''Onnia'', which is a genus of fungi in the family Hymenochaetaceae. The genus name of ''Onnia'' was in honour of Onni Alexander Karsten (1868–1958), who was a Finnish gardener and Petter Adolf Karsten's son.<ref>{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref>

In 1969, Harri Harmaja published ''Karstenella'' which is a genus of fungi in the order Pezizales (of family Karstenellaceae).<ref>{{cite web |title=''Karstenella'' Harmaja |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/2593327 |website=www.gbif.org |access-date=28 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Lastly, ''Karsteniomyces'', which is a genus of lichenicolous fungi of unknown familial, ordinal, and class placement in the Ascomycota.<ref name="GBIF"/> The genus was circumscribed by David Leslie Hawksworth in 1980.<ref name="GBIF">{{GBIF |id=3478100 |taxon=Karsteniomyces |accessdate=9 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hawksworth |first1=D.L. |year=1980 |title=Notes on some fungi occurring on ''Peltigera'', with a key to accepted species |journal=Transactions of the British Mycological Society |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=363–386|doi=10.1016/S0007-1536(80)80167-7 }}</ref>

==References== * {{cite web | author = Harri Harmaja | title = P. A. Karsten | url = http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/harmaja/Karsten.htm | access-date = 13 July 2006 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060510021104/http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/harmaja/Karsten.htm | archive-date = 10 May 2006 }} <references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karsten, Petter Adolf}} Category:Finnish mycologists Category:Naturalists from the Russian Empire Category:1834 births Category:1917 deaths Category:Finnish taxonomists