Giacomo Bresadola ( Mezzana,

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

; often given as Giacopo) 14 February 1847 –

9 June 1929) was an eminent Italian

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...

. Fungi he named include the deadly ''

Lepiota helveola ''Lepiota helveola'' is a gilled mushroom of the genus ''Lepiota'' in the order Agaricales. It was described by Italian mycologist Giacomo Bresadola in 1882. It has white gills and spores. They typically have rings on the stems, Like several ...

'' and ''Inocybe patouillardii'', though the latter is now known as ''

Inosperma erubescens ''Inocybe erubescens'', also known as ''I. patouillardii'', commonly known as the deadly fibrecap, brick-red tear mushroom or red-staining Inocybe, is a poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus ''Inocybe'' and one of the few ...

'' as this latter description predated Bresadola's by a year. He was a founding member of the ''Société mycologique de France'' (Mycology Society of France).

Life

Bresadola was born in 1847 into a farming family in

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

, then an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

possession. From a very early age, he showed an interest in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

. After attending elementary school at Mezzana, he was sent by his father to Cloz in the Val di Non at the age of nine to continue his studies with his uncle who was a priest. His uncle, however, considered him too rambunctious and quickly sent him home again. In 1857, his father moved to

Montichiari Montichiari (Brescian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on December 27, 1991. The town is home to the Gabriele D'Annunzio airport (Italian: ''Aer ...

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

to become a bronze merchant. At twelve years of age, he left to study at the technical institute in

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the frontier b ...

. Having placed at the head of his class four years in a row, he was so disappointed at being classed second that he abandoned his studies to enter the seminary at Trent. Upon becoming a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, he was appointed to the parishes of Baselga di Pinè,

Roncegno Roncegno Terme (''Ronzégno'' in local dialect) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about east of Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, ...

, and Malè. In 1878, he became the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

at Magràs, a position he held for five years. During this period, he again started to become keenly interested in botany and spent time with

Francesco Ambrosi Francesco Ambrosi (November 17, 1821 – 9 April 1897) was an Italian botanist, librarian, ethnologist and historian. Biography Ambrosi was born to a family of herders in Borgo Valsugana, the present day Italian province of Trentinoat that time ...

, whoever he was, who introduced him to the bryologist

Gustavo Venturi Gustavo Venturi (4 February 1830, in Rovereto – 5 June 1898) was an Italian bryologist. After graduating with a law degree, Venturi worked as an attorney in Trento, from where he researched bryology as a hobby. He was the author of 20 artic ...

and the work of Carlo Vittadini. Both the large number of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

s that he found during his excursions and his contact with various

mycologists Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

led to a specific interest in mycology. Thus he met with Pier Andrea Saccardo, a professor of botany at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

and celebrated mycologist. Saccardo directed Bresadola to Lucien Quélet and later Émile Boudier, with whom he would have a warm relationship. From this point on, he maintained a voluminous and broad correspondence with upwards of 400 Italian and foreign specialists, a collection that is now housed at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. Starting in 1881, he published the first installment of ''Fungi tridentini novi vel novum vel nondum delineati,'' a work which, when finished in 1892, ran to 232 pages of text and 217 plates. In 1884, he left to become vicar in Trent, where he would remain for the rest of his life. In 1887, he was named administrator of the Trent episcopacy's estates, a position he held until 1910. He became a leading specialist in various areas, in which he enjoyed close collaborations:

Agaricomycetes The Agaricomycetes are a class of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The taxon is roughly identical to that defined for the Homobasidiomycetes (alternatively called holobasidiomycetes) by Hibbett & Thorn, with the inclusion of Auriculariales a ...

, with Quélet and

Adalbert Ricken Adalbert Ricken (18 March 1851 – 1 March 1921) was a German Roman Catholic priest and mycologist born in Fulda. He attended the seminary for Roman Catholic priests in Fulda, and afterwards was a priest and chaplain at several locations in the F ...

; Aphyllophoromycetideae, with

Narcisse Théophile Patouillard Narcisse Théophile Patouillard (2 July 1854 – 30 March 1926) was a French pharmacist and mycologist. He was born in Macornay, a town in the department of Jura (department), Jura. He studied in Besançon, then furthered his education at the � ...

and the Canon Hubert Bourdot; and finally

Discomycetes Discomycetes is a former taxonomic class of Ascomycete fungi which contains all of the cup, sponge and brain fungi and some club-like fungi. It includes typical cup fungi like the scarlet elf cup and the orange peel fungus, and fungi with frui ...

with Boudier. He also developed a keen interest in exotic specimens and published various observations on examples he received from all parts of the world, including Cameroon, Congo, Hungary, Saxony, Poland, San Tomé, and Samoa. Under the auspices of the Italian Botanical Society and the Natural History Museum in Trent, he undertook the monumental ''Iconographia mycologica,'' a partially posthumous work which comprised some 25 volumes and 1,250 colour plates. In 1910, he retired and relied on his friends and family for a reasonable pension. Unfortunately, the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

diminished its value considerably and to survive he was forced to sell off piecemeal his extensive library, his plant collection and his original drawings. In 1927, the University of Padua conferred upon him a doctorate ''honoris causa'' and the Italian government named him to the

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( it, Ordine della Corona d'Italia, italic=no or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for civi ...

. He died in Trent in June, 1929 and was buried at municipal expense. Bresadola is the author of 1017

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of mushrooms and some fifteen genres in roughly sixty publications, almost all of which are written in Latin. His collections are today conserved in various institutions. The Natural History Museum of Stockholm has the largest collection (some thirty thousand species), although additional parts of Bresadola's collection are to be found in the Universities of Washington,

, Uppsala, Leiden and Paris.

Works

*1890 : Fungi Kamerunenses a cl. viro Joanne Braun lecti, additis nonnullis aliis novis, vel criticis ex regio museo bot. Berolinensi. ''Bulletin de la Société Mycologique de France'' 6 (1): 32-49. *1891 Fungi Lusitani collecti a cl. viro Adolphus Fr. Moller, anno 1890. ''Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana'' 9: 1-9

eprint pag. In academic publishing, an eprint or e-print is a digital version of a research document (usually a journal article, but could also be a thesis, conference paper, book chapter, or a book) that is accessible online, usually as green open access, ...

*1891 : Champignons de la Hongrie. ''Revue Mycologique Toulouse'' 13: 20-33. *1892 : Fungi aliquot Saxonici novi lecti a cl. W. Krieger. ''Hedwigia'' 31: 40-41. *1893 : Fungi aliquot Saxonici novi lecti a cl. W. Krieger. ''Hedwigia'' 32: 32- *1894 : Fungi aliquot Saxonici novi vel critici a cl. W. Krieger lecti (contributio III ad Floram Mycol. Saxoniae). ''Hedwigia'' 33: 206-210. *1896 : Fungi aliquot Saxonici novi a cl. W. Krieger lecti. IV. ''Hedwigia'' 35: 199- 00 *1896 : Fungi Brasilienses lecti a cl. Dr Alfredo Möller. ''Hedwigia'' 35: 276-302. *1897 : Hymenomycetes Hungarici Kmetiani. Atti dell'I.R. ''Accademia di Scienze Lettere ed Arti degli Agiati in Rovereto'' Ser. 3 3: 66- 14 *1899 : I funghi mangerecci e velenosi dell'Europa media con speciale riguardo a quelli che crescono nel Trentino (première édition). *1900 : Fungi aliquot Saxonici novi. VI. ''Hedwigia'' 39: 325- 47 *1900 : Hymenomycetes Fuegiani a cl. P. Dusén et O. Nordenskjöld lecti. ''K. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar'' 2: 311-316. *1900 : Hymenomycetes fuegiani a Dusén, Nordenskjold lecti. ''Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Expedition nach den Magellansländern''. 1895-1897 Band. III. *1902 : Mycetes Lusitanici novi. Atti dell'I.R. ''Accademia di Scienze Lettere ed Arti degli Agiati in Rovereto'' Ser. 3 8: 128-133. *1903 : Fungi Polonici a cl. Viro B. Eichler lecti (continuatio). ''Annales Mycologici'' 1 (1-2): 65-131, 1 planche. *1903 : Fungi Polonici. ''Annales Mycologici'' 1 (1): 65-96. *1903 : Mycologia Lusitanica. Diagnoses fungorum novorum. ''Brotéria'' Ser. Botânica ''2'': 87-92. *1905 : Hymenomycetes novi vel minus cogniti. ''Annales Mycologici'' 3: 159-164. *1906 : I funghi mangerecci e velenosi dell'Europa media con speciale riguardo a quelli che crescono nel Trentino. II edizione riveduta ed aumentata. Trento: Stab. Lit. Tip. Giovanni Zippel 1906. 8vo, p (1-5) 6-142 et 121 planches (don't 120 lithographies coul.). *1908 : Fungi aliquot Gallici novi vel minus cogniti. ''Annales Mycologici'' 6: 37-47. *1908 : Drittes Verzeichniss zu meiner Exsiccatenwerk `Fungi Selecti Exsiccati', Serien IX-XII (201-300). ''Verhandlungen des Botanischen Vereins der Provinz Brandenburg'' 50: 29-51. *1911 : Fungi Congoenses. ''Annales Mycologici'' 9: 266-276. *1911 : Adnotanda mycologica. ''Annales Mycologici'' 9 (4): 425-428. *1912 : Polyporaceae Javanicae. ''Annales Mycologici'' 10: 492-508. *1912 : Basidiomycetes Philippinenses. Series I. ''Hedwigia'' 51 (4): 306-326. *1912 : Basidiomycetes Philippinenses. Series II. ''Hedwigia'' 53: 46-80. *1913 : Champignons de Congo Belge. ''Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l'État à Bruxelles'' 4: 6-30. *1915 : Neue Pilze aus Sachsen. ''Annales Mycologici'' 13: 104-106. *1915 : Basidiomycetes Philippinenses. Series III. ''Hedwigia'' 56 (4): 289-307. *1916 : Synonymia et adnotanda mycologica. ''Annales Mycologici'' 14 (3-4): 221-242. *1920 : Selecta mycologica. ''Annales Mycologici'' 18 (1-3): 26-70. *1925 : New species of fungi. ''Mycologia'' 17 (2): 68-77. *1926 : Selecta mycologica II - ''Studi Trentini Sen Il. Sci. Nat. ed. Econ.'' 7 (1): 51-81. *1927 ubl. 1928: ''Iconografia Mycologica'' 3: 101-150. Mediolani. *1929 : ''Iconografia Mycologica'' 9: 401-450. *1929 : ''Iconografia Mycologica'' 12: 551-600. *1930 : ''Iconografia Mycologica'' 16: 751-800. *1893 : Bresadola, G., Hennings, P. & Magnus, P.. Die von Herrn P. Sintenis auf der Insel Portorico 1884-1887 gesammelten Pilze. ''Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeografie'' 17: 489-501, 1 planche. *1897 : Bresadola, G. & Saccardo, P.A.. Enumerazione dei funghi della Valsesia raccolti dal Ch. Ab. Antonio Carestia. ''Malpighia'' 11: 241-325. *1899 (1900) : Bresadola, G. & Saccardo, P.A.. Fungi Congoenses. ''Bulletin de la Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique'' 38: 152-168, 5 planches.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bresadola, Giacomo 1847 births 1929 deaths 19th-century Italian botanists 20th-century Italian botanists Italian mycologists Catholic clergy scientists

Life

Works

See also

References

External links