New light on the mycological work of Lewis David von Schweinitz

In 1993, the Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany at Harvard University received a gift of a slim volume, entitled Icones fungorum Niskiensium. Vibrant water colour illustrations of fungi covered the pages bound within it. It was attributed to Lewis David von Schweinitz, the American born...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIMA fungus Vol. 9; p. A17
Main Authors Karakehian, Jason M, Burk, William R, Pfister, Donald H
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London BioMed Central 01.01.2018
Subjects
Archives & records
Biodiversity
Botany
Fungi
Illustrations
Inscriptions
Libraries
Provenance
United States > US
Pennsylvania
Michigan
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Summary:In 1993, the Farlow Reference Library of Cryptogamic Botany at Harvard University received a gift of a slim volume, entitled Icones fungorum Niskiensium. Vibrant water colour illustrations of fungi covered the pages bound within it. It was attributed to Lewis David von Schweinitz, the American born “father” of North American mycology. Schweinitz coauthored his first mycological publication with Johannes Baptista von Albertini in Germany, 1805: Conspectus fungorum in Lusatiae superioris agro Nieskiensi crescentium (An overview of fungi growing in the area of Niesky in Upper Lusatia), now considered a classic mycological text. Schweinitz, a prolific and skillful mycological illustrator, prepared the plates of illustrations appended to the Conspectus and produced many unpublished water colours of the fungi treated therein. The results of our research into the provenance of the Icones fungorum Niskiensium are presented here. Building upon recent scholarship, we provide analysis of its role in the early development of the Conspectus. An index to the figures, cross-referenced to Schweinitz’s other unpublished volumes of water colours and to the Conspectus, is also provided. To make the Icones fungorum Niskiensium publically available, the volume has been digitized and may be accessed through the Biodiversity Hertitage Library (BHL) portal.
ISSN:2210-6340
2210-6359
DOI:10.1007/BF03449476