Josef Herink (26 December 1915 – 20 August 1999) was a Czech physician and

mycologist 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 ...

Life and career

Josef Herink was born in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

on 26 December 1915. He completed his medical studies at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague before practicing as a specialist in

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

Turnov Turnov (; ) is a town in Semily District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. It is a traditional centre for gemstone polishing, glass craftsmanship and arts. The historic town centre is well preserved and ...

and

Mnichovo Hradiště Mnichovo Hradiště (; ) is a town in Mladá Boleslav District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic ...

, in northern

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. Very active in mycology, he was one of the initiators, in 1945, of the Czechoslovak Mycological Club, founded the following year, and renamed since 1993 the Czech Scientific Society for Mycology. From 1947 to his last months he was actively involved in the

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

called ''Czech Mycology'' (formerly ''Česká mykologie''), of which he is one of the founders. He wrote numerous biographical notes on Czech mycologists. Most of his mycological and biographical contributions are published in the

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

. He devoted much of his career as a mycologist to the study of his favourite genus, ''

Lepiota ''Lepiota'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms in the family Agaricaceae. All ''Lepiota'' species are ground-dwelling saprotrophs with a preference for rich, calcareous soils. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are agaricoid with whitish spores, typica ...

'', but he also worked on the genera ''

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 ...

'', ''

Armillaria ''Armillaria'' is a genus of fungi that includes the '' A. mellea'' species ('honey fungus') that live on trees and woody shrubs. It includes about 10 species formerly categorized summarily as ''A. mellea''. ''Armillaria'' sp. are long-live ...

'', ''

Cortinarius ''Cortinarius'' is a globally distributed genus of fungus in the family Cortinariaceae. Its members are commonly known by the names cortinar and webcap. It is suspected to be the largest genus of agarics, containing over 2,000 widespread species ...

'', ''

Entoloma ''Entoloma'' is a genus of fungi in the order Agaricales. Called pinkgills in English, basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are typically agaricoid (gilled mushrooms), though a minority are gasteroid. All have salmon-pink basidiospores which colour the ...

'', ''

Mycena ''Mycena'' is a genus of about 500 species of fungi. Rarely more than a few centimeters in width, the mushrooms are characterized by a small conical or bell-shaped cap and a thin fragile stem. Most are grey or brown, but a few species have brigh ...

'', ''

Omphalina ''Omphalina'' is a genus of small agarics with white, nonamyloid, basidiospores and decurrent lamella (mycology), gills. Typically the pileus (mycology), cap has a deep central depression giving the umbrella-like to funnel-shaped cap the appearanc ...

'', and on the species '' Helvella gabretae'', '' Xerocomus moravicus'', among others. He attached great importance to the use of chemical reagents for the delimitation and identification of species of

agaric 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) ...

s and

bolete A bolete is a type of mushroom, or fungal fruiting body. It can be identified thanks to a unique cap. On the underside of the cap there is usually a spongy surface with pores, instead of the gills typical of mushrooms. A similar pore surface i ...

s. He always had his reagents with him and used them systematically for his descriptions. He even developed specific chemical tests on the milk cap mushrooms. He tried to define macroscopic characters to allow the identification of agarics and boletes without resorting to

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view subjects too small to be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical mic ...

. His great experience allowed him to recognize many species in the field, or during exhibitions and conferences. All his life he collected data on the distribution of macromycetes in Czechoslovakia. His

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

samples, preserved in the Mycology Department of the National Museum in Prague, are accompanied by meticulous descriptions of the characters observed in the fresh state (color, smell, taste, consistency, etc.). Herink was also interested in

nature conservation Nature conservation is the ethic/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values ...

, studying the mycological flora of several

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s. He was co-author of the red book of 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 ...

ic flora of

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and the Czech Republic published in 1995, where he listed twenty species of agarics and boletes, illustrated by his younger brother, the painter . He presented numerous lectures to the mycological society, not only on agarics and boletes, but also on poisonous mushrooms and on nature conservation, the last, three months before his death, on the genus ''

Clitocybe ''Clitocybe'' is a genus of mushrooms characterized by white, off-white, buff, cream, pink, or light-yellow spores, gills running down the stem, and pale white to brown or lilac coloration. They are primarily saprotrophic, decomposing forest grou ...

''. Josef Herink combined his training as a doctor and his passion for fungi by studying

mushroom poisoning Mushroom poisoning is poisoning resulting from the ingestion of mushrooms that contain toxicity, toxic substances. Signs and symptoms, Symptoms can vary from slight Gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal discomfort to death in about 10 days. Mus ...

s, their toxicity and their treatment, to which he devoted his best-known work ''Poisonings by Fungi'' (1958), which was illustrated by his brother.

Eponyms

Several fungus species have been named after Herink. These include: '' Sepultaria herinkii'' ; '' Coprinus herinkii'' ; '' Agaricus herinkii'' ; '' Ceriporia herinkii'' ; '' Conocybe herinkii'' ; and '' Gymnopus herinkii'' .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herink, Josef 1915 births 1999 deaths Czech mycologists 20th-century Czech physicians 20th-century Czech people Charles University alumni Scientists from Prague

Life and career

Eponyms

See also

References