Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow ( ru , Николай Степанович Турчанинов, 1796 in

Nikitovka Nikitovka (russian: Никитовка) is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Nikitovskoye Rural Settlement, Krasnogvardeysky District, Belgorod Oblast, Russia. The population was 526 as of 2010. There are 12 streets. Ge ...

, now in

Krasnogvardeysky District, Belgorod Oblast Krasnogvardeysky District (russian: Красногварде́йский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the twenty-one in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.Law #248 Municipally, it is incorporated as Krasnogvardeysky Municipa ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

– 1863 in

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

) was a Russian

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 plant collector who first identified several genera, and many species, of plants.

Education and career

Born in 1796, Turczaninow attended high school in Kharkov. In 1814, he graduated from

Kharkov University The Kharkiv University or Karazin University ( uk, Каразінський університет), or officially V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University ( uk, Харківський національний університет імені ...

, before working as a civil servant for the Ministry of Finance in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Soon after, in 1825, Turczaninow published his first botanical list. Despite being employed in a different field, he continued his largely self-taught botanical work. In 1828, he was assigned an administrative post in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

, Siberia. This allowed him to collect in the

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

area, which is known for its rich biodiversity. A spate of papers followed, and Turczaninow established his own

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

containing plants from the region. In 1830, he was appointed a Fellow of the Imperial Botanic Garden St. Petersburg (now the

Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden The main Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden, officially known as the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Komarov Botanical Institute's Botanical Garden of Peter the Great (russian: Ботанический сад Петра Великого Б ...

), and charged with collecting plants from Siberia. In the early 1830s, Turczaninow published numerous papers on the botany of Siberia and Mongolia, most of which appeared in the ''Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou''. During his career, Turczaninow corresponded and exchanged specimens with eminent botanists of the era, including

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candol ...

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of t ...

, and

Joachim Steetz Joachim Steetz (12 November 1804 – 24 March 1862) was a German botanist. His herbarium, comprising more than 5000 specimens from over 160 collectors and 30 countries was purchased in 1863 by Victorian Government Botanist Ferdinand von Muelle ...

, among others. In 1837, he was sent to Krasnojarsk where he continued to publish botanical names. He also became governor of the region. Turczaninow later opened a herbarium in

Taganrog Taganrog ( rus, Таганрог, p=təɡɐnˈrok) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: History of Taganrog The ...

on the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

. After a debilitating fall, he allowed others to collect for him and he spent his time in classification, study and writing. In particular, Turczaninow began work on collections sent to him from the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

by botanist James Drummond. Despite never visiting the country, he published over 400 species of Australian flora. Turczaninow eventually moved back to Kharkov in 1847, taking most of his herbarium with him. Many of these specimens, including known

type specimens In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

, were transferred to the National Herbarium of Ukraine (KW). Many herbaria around the world also hold collections made by Turczaninow, including the

Komarov Botanical Institute The Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Ботанический институт им. В.Л.Комарова РАН) is a leading botanical institution in Russia, It is located on Aptekarsky Island in St. Peter ...

, the

National Herbarium of Victoria The National Herbarium of Victoria ( Index Herbariorum code: MEL) is one of Australia's earliest herbaria and the oldest scientific institution in Victoria. Its 1.5 million specimens of preserved plants, fungi and algae—collectively known a ...

at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria are botanic gardens across two sites–Melbourne and Cranbourne. Melbourne Gardens was founded in 1846 when land was reserved on the south side of the Yarra River for a new botanic garden. It extends across ...

Harvard University Herbaria The Harvard University Herbaria and Botanical Museum are institutions located on the grounds of Harvard University at 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Botanical Museum is one of three which comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural ...

and the herbarium at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

Standard author abbreviation

Turczaninow named almost 2500 plant species. See: :Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow an
International Plant Name Index

Prizes

* 1857:

Demidov Prize The Demidov Prize (russian: Демидовская премия) is a national scientific prize in Russia awarded annually to the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Originally awarded from 1832 to 1866 in the Russian Empire, it was reviv ...

of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

List of selected publications

Legacy

* The open access journa
''Turczaninowia''
which publishes on systematics and phylogeny of plants, study of plant diversity, florogenesis, anatomy and morphology of plants, is named after him. * Several plant species have been named after him, including ''

Connarus turczaninowii ''Connarus turczaninowii'' is a dicotyledonous plant species described by José Jerónimo Triana and Planch. It is named after Russian botanist Nikolai Turczaninow. Range It is found in Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), off ...

'', ''

Hydrocotyle turczaninowii ''Hydrocotyle'', also called floating pennywort, water pennywort, Indian pennywort, dollar weed, marsh penny, thick-leaved pennywort and even white rot is a genus of prostrate, perennial aquatic or semi- aquatic plants formerly classified in the ...

'', and ''

Sisymbrium turczaninowii ''Sisymbrium'' is a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae. Selected species * '' Sisymbrium altissimum'' – Jim Hill mustard, tall rocket, tall tumblemustard * ''Sisymbrium crassifolium'' * '' Sisymbrium erysimoides'' * '' Sisymbrium i ...

''. Also in 1836,

Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

published '' Turczaninovia'', which is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s from Russia to China, belonging to the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. It was named in Nikolai Turczaninow's honour.

References