Swedish mycologist John Eriksson 1985 by Leif Ryvarden

John Leonard Eriksson (born 26 March 1921 in

Hagfors Hagfors is a locality and the seat of Hagfors Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 10,125 inhabitants in 2010. Its history is traced to 1873, when it was decided to build two blast furnaces at the location. The town of Hagfors plays ho ...

– died 1 June 1995) was a Swedish

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 ...

. He specialized in

crust fungi The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are formed on the undersides of dead tree trunks or branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or p ...

of the

basidiomycetes Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...

, collecting in Sweden (especially in Muddus National Park, the

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

region and

Värnamo Värnamo (), historically known as Wernamo, is a town in Jönköping County in the south of Sweden. It is situated on the river Lagan just north of the lake Vidöstern. It is the seat of Värnamo Municipality and has 19,778 inhabitants as of 31 ...

), Finland and Canada. Eriksson was a student of

John Axel Nannfeldt John-Axel Nannfeldt (baptized ''Johan Axel Frithiof Nannfeldt''), born 18 January 1904 in Trelleborg and deceased 4 November 1985 in Uppsala, was a Swedish botanist and mycologist. Nannfeldt studied natural history at the University of Uppsal ...

and Seth Lundell, and defended his

doctoral dissertation A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

''Studies in the Heterobasidiomycetes and Homobasidiomycetes-Aphyllophorales of Muddus National Park in Northern Sweden'' on the wood-associated fungal flora in Muddus National Park at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

in 1958. The opponent (similar to an

external examiner The external examiner plays an important role in all degree level examinations in higher education in the United Kingdom. The external examiner system originated in 1832 with the establishment of the University of Durham, the first in England s ...

) was the Dutch mycologist Marinus Donk. Eriksson was employed as a senior lecturer at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

in 1961. He received a personal doctorate in 1967 which was transformed into a

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1977. Eriksson retired in 1986. Eriksson supervised several students who would later carry on the crust fungus tradition, including Nils Hallenberg and Karl-Henrik Larsson. Eriksson also had extensive scientific collaborations with Kurt Hjortstam and

Leif Ryvarden Leif Randulff Ryvarden (born 9 August 1935) is a Norwegian mycologist. Early life and education Leif Ryvarden was born in Bergen as a son of Einar Norberg Johansen (1900–1959) and Hjørdis Randulff (1912–1975). He finished his secondary edu ...

. Eriksson was the main author and illustrator of the book series ''The Corticiaceae of North Europe'' (1973–1988, Fungiflora publishing house). Eriksson was known for his accurate and clear illustrations of micromorphological characters, a characteristic of this book series. Eriksson described 16

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

(eg. ''

Paullicorticium ''Paullicorticium'' is a genus of resupinate fungi in the Hydnaceae The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps (fruit bodies) having a hyme ...

'') and 55 species (eg. '' Phlebia firma''), and he carried out 119 nomenclature recombinations. Nearly 10 species have been named after Eriksson, e.g. '' Xylodon erikssonii'' and '' Hypochnicium erikssonii''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksson, John Leonard 1921 births 1995 deaths People from Hagfors Swedish mycologists Swedish taxonomists 20th-century Swedish scientists Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of the University of Gothenburg