Mu Zang (28 December 1930 – 10 November 2011) was a Chinese

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 ...

. He was known for his research on the

Boletales The Boletales are an order of Agaricomycetes containing over 1300 species with a diverse array of fruiting body types. The boletes are the best known members of this group, and until recently, the Boletales were thought to only contain boletes. ...

of China, and the

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and

biogeography Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities o ...

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

in southwestern China. He described more than 140 new species and circumscribed three genera, published more than 150 research papers, was

chief editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's Editing, editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is hel ...

or co-editor for twelve books, and wrote two

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

s on the

Boletaceae The Boletaceae are a Family (biology), family of mushroom-forming fungi, primarily characterised by small pores on the spore-bearing hymenium, hymenial surface (at the underside of the mushroom), instead of Lamella (mycology), gills as are found ...

of China. His final book, "Dictionary of the Families and Genera of Chinese Cryptogamic (Spore) Plants" was co-authored with his wife, Professor Xinjiang Li.

Personal life

Mu Zang was born on 10 November 1930, in

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao ...

, eastern China. After graduating in biology from Soochow University in 1953, he taught biology at

Nanjing Normal University Nanjing Normal University (NJNU; zh, p=Nánjīng Shīfàn Dàxué, c=, s=南京师范大学) is a provincial public university in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Jiangsu, and co-sponsored by the Ministry of Educati ...

from 1954 to 1973, where he eventually became a lecturer. In 1974 Zang began work as associate professor at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

; he later was full research professor at this institute. Zang was largely responsible for the establishment of the Cryptogamic Herbarium of the Kunming Institute of Botany. This

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 ...

, one of the largest and most active in the world, contains (as of 2012) more than 210,000 specimens. Zang personally contributed in excess of 13,800 fungal specimens, 24,500

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 ...

specimens, and 1000

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 ...

specimens. Personal interests of Zang included painting,

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

, and

stamp collecting Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...

. Zang died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

on 10 November 2011.

Honours and awards

Among the awards won by Mu Zang include: *Chinese Academy of Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award (1986) *Chinese National Science Research Awards (1993, 1995, and 2004) *Science and Technology Application Progress Award of the Chinese Ministry of Forestry (1992) *Japanese N. Hiratsuka Award (2003) Zang was associate director of the Key Laboratory of Mycology and Lichenology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the vice president of the Mycological Society of China. Fungal taxa named in his honour include the species '' Amanita zangii'', '' Cantharellus zangii'', '' Aureoboletus zangii'', '' Meliola zangii'', '' Nectria zangii'', '' Sinoboletus wangii'', and '' Tricholoma zangii'', and the

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 ...

genus '' Zangia''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zang, Mu 1930 births 2011 deaths Chinese mycologists Academic staff of Nanjing Normal University Writers from Yantai Soochow University (Suzhou) alumni Educators from Shandong Biologists from Shandong

Personal life

Honours and awards

See also

References