Johannes Lid (11 January 1886 – 29 September 1971) was a Norwegian botanist. He was born in

Voss Voss () is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages inclu ...

, and he married the illustrator

Dagny Tande Lid Dagny Tande Lid (25 May 1903 – 28 January 1998) was a Norwegian painter, illustrator and poet. She is most noted for her drawings of plants and is known for her own illustrated poetry collections and for her botanical illustrations of Norwegia ...

in 1936. He is particularly known for his works on Scandinavian flora, and for his widely used handbook to plants ''Norsk flora'', with illustrations by his wife Dagny Tande Lid. He co-founded and chaired the

Norwegian Botanical Association The Norwegian Botanical Association () is an association for botany founded in 1935. Its members are qualified botanists, self-taught botanists and other people interested in Norwegian flora. It has approximately 1,500 members in Norway and twelve ...

from 1935 to 1942. From 1948 onward he served as a curator at the Botanical Museum in Oslo. After his retirement in 1956, he carried out in-depth studies of the flora of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. He became a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

in 1945 and received the

King's Medal of Merit in gold 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 1956.

Biography

Lid was born in

, Norway on 11 January 1886. In 1936, he married the illustrator

, who would later provide

botanical illustration Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species. They are generally meant to be scientifically descriptive about subjects depicted and are often found printed alongside a botanical description in boo ...

s for many of his publications. He died on 27 September 1971 at the age of 85.

Career and scientific contributions

Johannes Lid conducted botanical field studies ranging from

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

in the north to the

in the south. His major publication was ("Norwegian

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

"), first published in 1944 with illustrations by his wife Dagny Tande Lid. This was followed in 1963 by ("Norwegian and Swedish Flora"), also illustrated by Dagny Tande Lid. From 1948, Lid served as the First

Curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

at the botanical museum at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

. After his retirement in 1956, he conducted studies of the flora of the Canary Islands.

Work with the Norwegian Mire Society

Lid maintained a professional relationship with (The Norwegian Mire Society), becoming a lifetime member and being elected to its representative council in 1945. His work with the Society lasted approximately 30 years. His research demonstrated correlations between

mire A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of Soil organic matter, organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, du ...

vegetation (using Holmsen's classification of mire types) and chemical analysis results from

soil sample A soil test is a laboratory or in-situ analysis to determine the chemical, physical or biological characteristics of a soil. Possibly the most widely conducted soil tests are those performed to estimate the plant-available concentrations of nutri ...

s. The botanical analyses of plant samples were conducted at the University Botanical Museum in Oslo under Lid's direction. Following field surveys, Lid co-authored a publication titled ("Botanical Guidelines for Practical Mire Assessment") in 1943, illustrated by Dagny Tande Lid. It was later republished as ("Mire Types and Mire Plants") in 1950. Lid also participated in the Mire Society's cultivation experiments with cloudberry (''

Rubus chamaemorus ''Rubus chamaemorus'' is a species of flowering plant in the rose family. Its English common names include cloudberry, Nordic berry, bakeapple (in Newfoundland and Labrador), knotberry and knoutberry (in England), aqpik or low-bush salmonberry ( ...

''), published in 1961. These studies documented hermaphroditic flowers in cloudberry plants, which in some cases produced fruit.

Professional affiliations and recognition

Lid co-founded and chaired the

from 1935 to 1942. He became a fellow of the

in 1945. In 1955, Lid was awarded 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 for his scientific contributions. In 1964, he edited the

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 ...

("Dried flora of Jan Mayen Island distributed by the Botanical Museum of the University of Oslo").

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lid, Johannes 1886 births 1971 deaths People from Voss 20th-century Norwegian botanists Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold