Rodolfo Emilio Giuseppe Pichi-Sermolli (24 February 1912 – 22 April 2005) was an Italian botanist.Necrology
He was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, son of Giuseppe Pichi-Sermolli and Maria née Del Rosso. He graduated in natural history from the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first univer ...

in 1935. He married Carla Bernardini on 9 April 1942, and they went on to have two children. He was assistant at the Institute of Botany in the University of Florence from 1935 to 1958, then became professor of botany at the

University of Sassari The University of Sassari ( it, Università degli Studi di Sassari, UniSS) is a university located in Sassari, Italy. It was founded in 1562 and is organized in 13 departments. The University of Sassari earned first place in the rankings for t ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

from 1958 to 1959. From 1959 he was professor at the Institute of Botany in the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...

and director of the Botanical Garden. He was a specialist on the

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

and

phytogeography Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution ...

of tropical Africa, and also worked in plant

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and

pteridology A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except th ...

. He was a specialist on the ecology and

of tropical Africa, and also worked in plant

and

Selected bibliography

*Pichi-Sermolli, Rudolfo E. G. ''Authors of Scientific Names in Pteridophyta''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1996. 78pp, PB. . *Pichi-Sermolli, Rudolfo E. G. ''

Index Filicum ''Index Filicum'' is a discontinued series of botanical indices on ferns, started by Carl Christensen in 1906 and continued in the form of seven supplements by Christensen and other authors until 1997. As of supplement 5, the index also covered lyc ...

, Supplementum Quartum, pro Annis 1934–1960 ndex to the Ferns, Fourth Supplement, for Years 1934–1960'. International Bureau for Plant Taxonomy and Nomenclature, Utrecht, Netherlands. 1965. vi/370 pp., PB. *Pichi-Sermolli, Rudolfo E. G. "A provisional catalogue of the family names of living pteridophytes." ''Webbia'' 25: 219 - 297. 1970. *Pichi-Sermolli, Rudolfo E. G. "Historical review of the higher classification of the Filicopsida." In Jermy, A.C., Crabb, J.A. & Thomas, B.A. eds, ''Phylogeny and Classification of the Ferns''. Suppl. 1 Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 67: 11 - 40, f. 1 - 8, pl. 1 - 19. 1973. *Pichi-Sermolli, Rudolfo E. G. "Tentamen pteridophytorum genera in taxanomicum ordinam redigendi." ''Webbia'' 31: 315 - 512. 1977.

General references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pichi-Sermolli, Rodolfo Emilio Giuseppe 20th-century Italian botanists Pteridologists Scientists from Florence University of Florence alumni University of Florence faculty University of Sassari faculty University of Genoa faculty 1912 births 2005 deaths