Józef Motyka (23 March 1900 in

Kąclowa Kąclowa is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Grybów, within Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately south of Grybów, east of Nowy Sącz, and south-east of the regional capital ...

– 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 ...

) was a Polish botanist and lichenologist.

Education

He obtained his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 1925 at the Jagiellonian University 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'', culminating in the publication of a two-volume 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he was employed in the Botanical Garden in Lwow. In 1944 he returned to his birthplace,

, and began teaching at the Gymnasium in nearby Grybów. 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. Th ...

, 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 ...

. 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 ...

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, Acarosporaceae, Umbilicariaceae, and

Thelocarpaceae Thelocarpaceae is the sole family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Thelocarpales. The family contains two genera, '' Sarcosagium'' and '' Thelocarpon''. The family was circumscribed by lichenologist Hugo Zukal in 1893, while the order was ...

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 However, there were several problems in Motyka's text, such as the use of outdated generic concepts, little discussion of why taxonomic 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

and colleagues made a formal proposal to consider this work ''

opera utique oppressa This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

''—a suppressed work that is not taxonomically valid.

Recognition

Motyka was awarded the

Polonia Restituta , image=Polonia Restituta - Commander's Cross pre-1939 w rib.jpg , image_size=200px , caption=Commander's Cross of Polonia Restituta , presenter = the President of Poland , country = , type=Five classes , eligibility=All , awa ...

and Golden Cross of Merit for his academic work.

Eponymous species

Several lichens have been named in honor of Józef Motyka: *''

Alectoria motykae Alectoria may refer to: * ''Alectoria'' (fungus), a genus of lichenized fungi * ''Alectoria'' (katydid), genus of bush crickets or katydids in the family Tettigoniidae, subfamily Phaneropterinae * ''Alectoria'', a genus of birds in the family Phasia ...

'' D.Hawksw. *''

Alectoria motykana Alectoria may refer to: * ''Alectoria'' (fungus), a genus of lichenized fungi * ''Alectoria'' (katydid), genus of bush crickets or katydids in the family Tettigoniidae, subfamily Phaneropterinae * ''Alectoria'', a genus of birds in the family Phasia ...

'' Bystrek *''

Ramalina motykana ''Ramalina'' is a genus of greenish fruticose lichens that grow in the form of flattened, strap-like branches. Members of the genus are commonly called strap lichensField Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 201 ...

'' Bystrek *''

Usnea motykae ''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 ...

'' Räsänen *''

Usnea motykana ''Usnea'' is a genus of mostly pale grayish-green fruticose lichen, fruticose lichens that grow like leafless mini-shrubs or tassels Holdfast (biology), anchored on bark or twigs.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale Universit ...

'' Bystrek & Wójciak

References