Adalbert Ricken (18 March 1851 – 1 March 1921) was a German

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

priest and

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...

born in

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

. He attended the seminary for Roman Catholic priests in Fulda, and afterwards was a priest and

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

at several locations in the Fulda

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

. He made contributions in the classification of

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

, and was the author of a popular textbook on

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s called ''Vademecum für Pilzfreunde''
Digital edition
by the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (german: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of t ...

). Another noted work by Ricken was ''Die Blätterpilze (Agaricaceae) Deutschlands und der angrenzenden Länder, besonders Oesterreichs und der Schweiz'' (1915), a publication on fungi from the family

Agaricaceae The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. Taxonomy The family Agaricaceae was publish ...

that are native to central Europe. The genus ''

Rickenella ''Rickenella'' is a genus of brightly colored bryophilous agarics in the Hymenochaetales that have an omphalinoid morphology. They inhabit mosses on mossy soils, peats, tree trunks and logs in temperate regions of both the Northern and Southern H ...

'' from the family

Repetobasidiaceae Repetobasidiaceae is a phylogenetically defined family encompassing resupinate, poroid, stereoid, clavarioid, and agaric An agaric () is a type of fungus fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus (cap) that is clearly different ...

is named in his honor. Since 1987, the "Adalbert Ricken Preis" is awarded by the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mykologie'' for research done by young amateur mycologists.

References

Biography of Adalbert Ricken

German Mycological Society
Adalbert-Ricken-Preis German mycologists People from Fulda 1851 births 1921 deaths {{Germany-biologist-stub