Paul Kummer (22 August 1834 – 6 December 1912) was a minister,

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

, and

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

Zerbst Zerbst () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until an administrative reform in 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the former Anhalt-Zerbst district. Geography Zerbst is sit ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, known chiefly for his contribution to

mycological Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

. Earlier

classification Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...

agarics An agaric () is a type of fungal fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus (cap) that is clearly differentiated from the stipe (stalk), with lamellae (gills) on the underside of the pileus. It is a type of mushroom (or toadstool), ...

by pioneering fungal

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. He is sometimes called the Mycology, "Linnaeus of Mycology". In his works he described and assigned botanical names to hundreds of fungus and li ...

designated only a very small number of

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, with most

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

falling into ''

Agaricus ''Agaricus'' is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi containing both edible and poisonous species, with over 400 members worldwide and possibly again as many disputed or newly discovered species. The genus includes the common ("button") mushroom ...

''. These few genera were divided into many ''tribus'' ("tribes"; not

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

in the modern sense). In his 1871 work, ''Der Führer in die Pilzkunde'', Kummer raised the majority of Fries ''"tribus"'' to the status of genus, thereby establishing many of the generic names for agarics that are in use to this day. In 1874 he issued the work ''Der Führer in die Flechtenkunde'' with numbered lichen specimens arranged in two plates like an

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

. From 1857 to 1863, he worked as a private lecturer, then served as a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

in Zerbst (1863–1877).Natural History Museum Kassel
biography/bibliography From 1877 onward, he was a minister in Hann Munden.BHL
Taxonomic literature : a selective guide to botanical publications

Bibliography

* "Der Führer in die Pilzkunde. Anleitung zum methodischen, leichten und sichern Bestimmen der in Deutschland vorkommenden Pilze, mit Ausnahme der Schimmel- und allzu winzigen Schleim- und Kern-Pilzchen." 1. Auflage. Zerbst (E. Luppe); (1871). * "Der Führer in die Mooskunde. Anleitung zum leichten und sicheren Bestimmen der deutschen Moose". 119 S.; Berlin. (1873). * "Der Führer in die Lebermoose und die Fefäßkryptogamen" (Schachtelhalme, Bärlappe, Farne, Wurzelfrüchtler). 1. Aufl.; Berlin (Springer); (1875). * "Kryptogamische Charakterbilder". VIII+251 S., 220 Abb.; Hannover, (1878). * "Der Führer in die Mooskunde. Anleitung zum leichten und sicheren Bestimmen der deutschen Moose", 2. Aufl.; Berlin, (1880). * "Die Moosflora der Umgebung von Hann.-Münden". - Bot. Centralblatt 40: 65–72, 101–106; Kassel, (1889). * "Der Führer in die Mooskunde. Anleitung zum leichten und sicheren Bestimmen der deutschen Moose". 3. Auflage; Berlin, (1891). * "Der Führer in die Lebermoose und die Gefäßkryptogamen" (Schachtelhalme, Bärlappe, Farne, Würzelfrüchtler). 2. Auflage VII+148 S.; Berlin (Springer), (1901).

References

External links

Historical Index of Mycologists, ''Illinois Mycological Society''. 1834 births 1912 deaths German mycologists German Protestant clergy {{Germany-botanist-stub