Arvo Jaakko Juhani Jalas (7 May 1920 – 1 December 1999) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

botanist. He worked in the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

Career

He began his university studies in 1938, one year before the Russian–Finnish

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, where he fought on the front, and again in the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

in 1941 and 1944. In that period, he made botanical expeditions to the disputed territory of Karelia (now the Republic of Karelia).Teuvo Ahti. ''Arvo Jaakko Juhani Jalas (1920-1999)''. Taxon 49 ( 2 (May, 2000), pp. 321-323
/ref> After the war, he completed his PhD in

Botany 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 w ...

in 1950, with a dissertation entitled ''Zur Kausalanalyse der Verbreitung einiger nordischen Os- und Sandpflanzen'' on the distribution, ecology and sociology of the plants of

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Ame ...

s and sandy areas of northern Europe. From 1961, he worked at the

as an Assistant Professor of Botany until 1971 when he was promoted to professor extraordinary (associate professor) and in 1976 to Professor of Plant Systematics, Morpholoy and Phytogeography. In 1978–1983, he was the director of the Department of Botany, the Botanical Garden and the Botanical Museum. He retired in 1984.Pertti Uotila, "Arvo Jaakko Juhani Jalas (1920–1999)". ''Flora Mediterranea'', vol 10 (2000)
He did much research work on

taxonomy 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. ...

and the geographic distribution of plants. He was regional adviser for Finland to the

Flora Europaea The ''Flora Europaea'' is a 5-volume encyclopedia of plants, published between 1964 and 1993 by Cambridge University Press. The aim was to describe all the national Floras of Europe in a single, authoritative publication to help readers identify ...

project, and became co-chairman of the mapping project for European vascular plants ''Atlas Florae Europaeae''. He was a founding member of OPTIMA (the Organization for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area). He was also interested in the economic botany and flora of the Fennoscandia, and he contributed greatly to the knowledge of Finnish flora. He was also specialised in the study of

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

and the genus''

Thymus The thymus is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, thymus cell lymphocytes or ''T cells'' mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. ...

'', a matter which occupied a long period of his professional life. His studies on ''Thymus'' remain as a work of reference on the subject. He died at his home in Helsinki on 1 December 1999.

Some publications

*1949. '' Tellima grandiflora (

Pursh The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

) Dougl. found naturalized in Finland'' *1948. ''Eastern forms of

Thymus pulegioides ''Thymus pulegioides'', common names broad-leaved thyme or lemon thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe. Growing to tall by wide, it is a small spreading subshrub with strongly aromatic leaves, and lil ...

L. in the Flora of Fennoscandia''.

Atlas Flora Europaeae

*Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1972: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 1. ''Pteridophyta'' (''Psilotaceae'' to ''Azollaceae''). - 121 pp . Helsinki. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1973: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 2. ''Gymnospermae'' (''Pinaceae'' to ''Ephedraceae''). - 40 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1976: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 3. ''Salicaceae'' to ''Balanophoraceae''. - 128 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1979: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 4. ''Polygonaceae''. - 71 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1980: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 5. ''Chenopodiaceae'' to ''Basellaceae''. - 119 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. 1983: Atlas Florae Europaeae notes. L. New nomenclatural combinations in ''Alsinoideae'' and ''Paronychioideae'' (''Caryophyllaceae''). - Ann. Bot. Fennici 20: 109-111. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1983: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 6. ''Caryophyllaceae'' (''Alsinoideae'' and ''Paronychioideae''). - 176 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. 1985: Atlas Florae Europaeae notes. 5. New nomenclatural combinations in ''Dianthus'' and ''Aconitum''. - Ann. Bot. Fennici 22: 219-221. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1986: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 7. ''Caryophyllaceae'' (''Silenoideae''). - 229 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. 1988: Atlas Florae Europaeae notes. 9-11. ''Ranunculaceae''. - Ann. Bot. Fennici 20: 109-111. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1988: Atlas Florae Europaeae. I-III. - Published as a facsimile compendium of Atlas Florae Europaeae 1-7 (1972–86). Cambridge. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1989: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 8. ''Nymphaeaceae'' to ''Ranunculaceae''. - 261 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1991: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 9. ''Paeoniaceae'' to ''Capparaceae''. - 110 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. (ed.) 1994: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 10. ''Cruciferae'' (''Sisymbrium'' to ''Aubrieta''). - 224 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J. 1996: Atlas Florae Europaeae notes. 13. Suggestions on ''Alyssum'' and ''Lepidium'' (''Cruciferae''). - Ann. Bot. Fennici 33: 283-284. *Jalas, J., Suominen, J. & Lampinen, R. (ed.) 1996: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 11. ''Cruciferae '' (''Ricotia '' to ''Raphanus''). - 310 pp. Helsinki. *Jalas, J., Suominen, J., Lampinen, R. & Kurtto, A. (ed.) 1999: Atlas Florae Europaeae. 12. ''Resedaceae'' to ''Platanaceae''. - 250 pp. Helsinki.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jalas, Jaakko 1920 births 1999 deaths Academic staff of the University of Helsinki 20th-century Finnish botanists