Josef Dostál (20 December 1903 – 11 May 1999) was a Czech botanist, pteridologist, conservationist, climber, hiker and university teacher. He was professor of botany at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

. He was the founder of the modern Czech scientific taxonomy of higher plants, working mainly with morphology of higher plants found in Czechoslovakia.

Career

Josef Dostál was born in 1903 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. After graduation from grammar school he was admitted to the Faculty of Science of the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

and after graduating worked there as an assistant. During the period of closure of the universities in the years 1939 to 1945 he engaged in research on the botany of

Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially- annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the German occupation of the Czech lands. The protectorate's population was mostly ethnic Czechs. After the ...

. In 1949 he qualified as

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

(associate professor) of Botany, and five years later he was appointed full professor in the Faculty of Science of the Charles University. In 1963 because of his opinions and attitudes he was forced to retire from Prague and moved to

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

where he worked for several years at Palacky University.Palacky University Department of Botany
/ref> As a university lecturer and professor he introduced the first lectures on paleophytogeography and evolutionary morphology. Professor Dostál was the author or co-author of numerous scientific studies in the field of botany and botanical and morphological terminology and also made a start on the geographical classification of the vegetation of Czechoslovakia. He prepared the Czech translation of nomenclature rules, worked on the Dictionary of Standard Czech and managed as a technical editor of works in the natural science section of an agricultural encyclopedia. Professor Dostál published a number of professional, scientific and popular-scientific works in many fields of botany. His professional activities include higher plant systematics, taxonomy, floristics, morphology, phytosociology, phytogeography, Czechoslovak vegetation, dendrology, conservation, genetics and more. His major work was "Flora of Czechoslovakia" and "Key to the complete flora of Czechoslovakia." Professor Dostál 's diligence, his talent and vitality achieved international scientific recognition. He was a regional adviser to Flora Europea and prepared the material on ferns for an edition of

Hegi Hegi is a quarter in the district 2 of Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as ...

's ''Flora von Mittel-Europa''. He took an active part in many international congresses and meetings (England, Spain, Italy, Greece, Crete, Cyprus, Turkey and Egypt). He was a member of the Czech, Slovak and Bulgarian Botanical Societies. At home and abroad he published in professional and popular botanical journals, lectured to members of the Czech Botanical Society and similar societies abroad. He was also a longtime member of the Czech Union for Nature Conservation. He died 11 May 1999 in Prague.

Honours

In 1998 he received the Minister of the Environment Award for his lifetime achievement in the field of botany

Taxa named in his honour

Caryophyllaceae Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranth ...

) ''

Dianthus ''Dianthus'' ( ) is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in north Africa and in southern Africa, and one species (''D. repens'') in arctic North Am ...

dostalii'' Novak *(

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

) ''

Plantago ''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a ...

dostalii'' Domin *(

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus '' Rosa''. The family includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but som ...

) ''

Alchemilla ''Alchemilla'' is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Rosaceae, with the common name lady's mantle applied generically as well as specifically to ''Alchemilla mollis'' when referred to as a garden plant. The plant used as a herb ...

dostalii'' PlocekFolia Geobot. Phytotax. 21(4): 426 1986 (IK)

Works

* ''Květena ČSR I (Flora of Czechoslovakia I)'' * ''Květena ČSR II (Flora of Czechoslovakia II)'' * ''Klíč k úplné květeně ČSR (Key for the Flora of Czechoslovakia)''

References

External links

Article about Troja basin with a picture of Prof. Dostál

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dostal, Josef 1903 births 1999 deaths Czechoslovak botanists Academic staff of Charles University Czech ecologists Conservationists