Johan Johnsen Havaas (Havås) (19 October 1864–27 April 1956) was a farmer and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

from

Granvin Granvin is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1891 until its dissolution in 2020 when it merged with Voss Municipality. The municipality was located in the traditional district of Hardanger ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

Early life and career

Johan Havaas grew up on the farm Havås in

and took an early interest in

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He was particularly interested in the

cryptogam A cryptogam (scientific name ''Cryptogamae'') is a plant, in the broad sense of the word, or a plant-like organism that share similar characteristics, such as being multicellular, photosynthetic, and primarily immobile, that reproduces via sp ...

flora. Havaas had only social studies and was largely self-taught, and also learned foreign languages (including Latin, English, German, French, Portuguese and Spanish) on his own, so he could both exchange letters with scientists abroad and publish his dissertations. With support from the

Bergen Museum The University Museum of Bergen () is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history. History The University Museum of Bergen was fo ...

, among others, he traveled all over the country and collected and recorded large quantities of

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es,

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s and

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

. His interest was too low, and he himself described about 6 new species. For example, he found the first specimen of the lichen coastal coral lichen ('' Bunodophoron melanocarpum'') in Norway, near

Mosterhamn Mosterhamn or simply Moster is a village in Bømlo municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the small island of Moster in the southeastern part of the municipality of Bømlo. The village lies along the Bømlafjorden. Th ...

Sunnhordaland Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardang ...

in 1912. In 1911 he registered a find of bog herring (''

Saxifraga hypnoides ''Saxifraga hypnoides'', called mossy saxifrage, cut-leaved saxifrage, Dovedale moss, Eve's cushion, Indian moss, lady's cushion, and queen's cushion, is a species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. It is native to northwestern Europ ...

'') in

Stadlandet Stad or Stadlandet is a peninsula in Stad Municipality in the northwestern part of the Nordfjord district in Vestland county in Norway. The peninsula is considered the dividing point between the Norwegian Sea to the north and the North Sea t ...

, a moss that was first found in Norway in the early 1800s. Two

s have been given a

species epithet Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) ...

named after him. One is '' Flavoplaca havaasii'', the other is '' Umbilicaria havaasii''. His work aroused international interest, while he has been less well known in Norway. The Granvin Bygdatun Museum has a collection after Johan Havaas, otherwise there are collections after him at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

and at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in the USA. In 1934 he was honored with the

King's Medal of Merit The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

in gold. He continued to run his father's farm in Granvin even in his old age. He probably had the last kvanngarden in Granvin.

Selected publications

*Floristiske undersøgelser i Søndre Bergenhus Amt (1897) (I Bergens museums aarbok 1897) *Nye findsteder for nogle sjeldnere lichener (1899) (I Bergens museums aarbok 1899) *Om vegetationen paa Hardangervidden (1902) (I Bergens museums aarbok 1902) *Beiträge zur Kenntnis der west-norwegischen Flechtflora 1 (1909) (I Bergens museums aarbok 1909) *Lichenvegetationen ved Mosterhavn (1916) (I Bergens museums aarbok 1917—1918) *Om vegetasjonen på toppen av Hårteigen (1927) (I Bergens museums aarbok 1927) *Om lichenvegetasjonen på Stadtlandet (1935) (I Bergens museums aarbok 1935) *Notes to the lichen flora of the mountains Steinsæterhorgi and Smøreggfjellet in Granvin, Hordaland fylke (1954) (Årbok for *Universitetet i Bergen 1954) *Granvins løvmosflora (1961) (Årbok for Universitetet i Bergen 1961) Johan Havaas has also published two valuable

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 ...

works: *Lichenes exsiccati Norvegiae, a museo Bergensi editi *Lichenes Norvegiae occidentalis exsiccati, a museo Bergensi editi

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Havaas, Johan 1864 births 1956 deaths 19th-century Norwegian botanists Norwegian farmers People from Granvin Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold 20th-century Norwegian botanists