Józef Motyka (23 March 1900 in Kąclowa – 6 July 1984 in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

) was a Polish

botanist 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 wo ...

and lichenologist.

Education

He obtained his PhD in 1925 at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

in Krakow for his studies on the ecology of saxicolous lichens (growing on or living among rocks) in Europe.

Early career

Afterwards, he spent several years researching the large lichen genus ''

Usnea ''Usnea'' is a genus of mostly pale grayish-green fruticose lichens that grow like leafless mini-shrubs or tassels anchored on bark or twigs.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, The genus is in the f ...

'', culminating in the publication of a two-volume

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

during 1936–38. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was employed in the Botanical Garden in

Lwow Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

. In 1944 he returned to his birthplace, Kąclowa, and began teaching at the Gymnasium in nearby

Grybów Grybów ( uk, Грибів, ''Hrybiv''; german: Grünberg, ''Grynberk''; yi, גריבאוו, ''Gribuv''),Prof. Maria Malec. ''Słownik nazw geograficznych Polski.'' 2003. WN PWN. 2007. .Prof. Stanisław Rospond. ''Słownik Etymologiczny Miast i ...

. A year later Motyka was appointed as Director of the Plant Geography and Systematics department at the

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (MCSU) ( pl, Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie, UMCS) was founded October 23, 1944 in Lublin. It is named in honour of Marie Curie-Sklodowska. Currently the number of students is almost 36,000. The ...

, and soon after became an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

. For the next decade he worked largely on the distribution and ecology of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

Publications

Returning to work on lichens in the mid-1950s, Motyka studied Poland's lichen flora and published papers on the families

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 822 ...

Cladoniaceae The Cladoniaceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. It is one of the largest families of lichen-forming fungi, with about 560 species distributed amongst 17 genera. The reindeer moss and cup lichens (''Cladonia'') belong t ...

, Acarosporaceae,

Umbilicariaceae The Umbilicariaceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the Ascomycota. Species of this family are known from a variety of climates, including temperate, boreal, austral, and warmer montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of m ...

, and Thelocarpaceae. He became a full Professor in 1960. He eventually published a total of four textbooks, six monographs, 54 papers, and two general-audience books. Motyka's draft manuscripts on the lecanoroid lichens were published posthumously in 1995–1996 by his daughter Maria Motyka-Zgłobicka and J. Sieminska, in a four-volume work titled ''Lecanoraceae''. This massive work introduced more than 220 new species, and over 300

new combination ''Combinatio nova'', abbreviated ''comb. nov.'' (sometimes ''n. comb.''), is Latin for "new combination". It is used in taxonomic biology literature when a new name is introduced based on a pre-existing name. The term should not to be confused wi ...

s. However, there were several problems in Motyka's text, such as the use of outdated generic concepts, little discussion of why

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

decisions were made, and omissions of important information for many of the newly described species. For these reasons,

Helge Thorsten Lumbsch Helge Thorsten Lumbsch (born 1964) is a German-born lichenologist living in the United States. His research interests include the phylogeny, taxonomy, and phylogeography of lichen-forming fungi; lichen diversity; lichen chemistry and chemotaxon ...

and colleagues made a formal proposal to consider this work '' opera utique oppressa''—a suppressed work that is not taxonomically valid.

Recognition

Motyka was awarded the

Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...

and

Golden Cross of Merit The Cross of Merit () is a Polish civil state decoration established on 23 June 1923, to recognize services to the state. History At the time of its establishment in 1923, the Cross of Merit was the highest civilian award in Poland. It was aw ...

for his academic work.

Eponymous species

Several lichens have been named in honor of Józef Motyka: *'' Alectoria motykae'' D.Hawksw. *'' Alectoria motykana'' Bystrek *'' Ramalina motykana'' Bystrek *'' Usnea motykae'' Räsänen *'' Usnea motykana'' Bystrek & Wójciak

References