Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow ( ru , Николай Степанович Турчанинов, 1796 in

Nikitovka Nikitovka (russian: Никитовка) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a Village#Russia, selo) and the administrative center of Nikitovskoye Rural Settlement, Krasnogvardeysky District, Belgorod Oblast, Krasnogvardeys ...

, now in

Krasnogvardeysky District, Belgorod Oblast Krasnogvardeysky District (russian: Красногварде́йский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the twenty-one in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.Law #248 Municipally, it is incorporated as Krasnogvardeysky Municipal ...

, Russia – 1863 in Kharkov) was a Russian

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and plant collector who first identified several genera, and many species, of plants.

Education and career

Born in 1796, Turczaninow attended high school in Kharkov. In 1814, he graduated from Kharkov University, before working as a civil servant for the Ministry of Finance in St. Petersburg. Soon after, in 1825, Turczaninow published his first botanical list. Despite being employed in a different field, he continued his largely self-taught botanical work. In 1828, he was assigned an administrative post in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

, Siberia. This allowed him to collect in the

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

area, which is known for its rich biodiversity. A spate of papers followed, and Turczaninow established his own

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant 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 sheet of paper (called ...

containing plants from the region. In 1830, he was appointed a Fellow of the Imperial Botanic Garden St. Petersburg (now the Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden), and charged with collecting plants from Siberia. In the early 1830s, Turczaninow published numerous papers on the botany of Siberia and Mongolia, most of which appeared in the ''Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou''. During his career, Turczaninow corresponded and exchanged specimens with eminent botanists of the era, including Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, George Bentham, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and Joachim Steetz, among others. In 1837, he was sent to

Krasnojarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...

where he continued to publish botanical names. He also became governor of the region. Turczaninow later opened a herbarium in Taganrog on the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

. After a debilitating fall, he allowed others to collect for him and he spent his time in classification, study and writing. In particular, Turczaninow began work on collections sent to him from the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

in Western Australia by botanist James Drummond. Despite never visiting the country, he published over 400 species of Australian flora. Turczaninow eventually moved back to Kharkov in 1847, taking most of his herbarium with him. Many of these specimens, including known

type specimens In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

, were transferred to the National Herbarium of Ukraine (KW). Many herbaria around the world also hold collections made by Turczaninow, including the Komarov Botanical Institute, the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne,

Harvard University Herbaria The Harvard University Herbaria and Botanical Museum are institutions located on the grounds of Harvard University at 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Botanical Museum is one of three which comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural ...

and the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Standard author abbreviation

Turczaninow named almost 2500 plant species. See: :Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow an
International Plant Name Index

Prizes

* 1857:

Demidov Prize The Demidov Prize (russian: Демидовская премия) is a national scientific prize in Russia awarded annually to the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Originally awarded from 1832 to 1866 in the Russian Empire, it was reviv ...

of the Russian Academy of Sciences

List of selected publications

Legacy

* The open access journa
''Turczaninowia''
which publishes on systematics and phylogeny of plants, study of plant diversity, florogenesis, anatomy and morphology of plants, is named after him. * Several plant species have been named after him, including ''

Connarus turczaninowii ''Connarus turczaninowii'' is a dicotyledonous plant species described by José Jerónimo Triana and Planch. It is named after Russian botanist Nikolai Turczaninow. Range It is found in Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), off ...

'', ''

Hydrocotyle turczaninowii ''Hydrocotyle'', also called floating pennywort, water pennywort, Indian pennywort, dollar weed, marsh penny, thick-leaved pennywort and even white rot is a genus of prostrate, perennial aquatic or semi-aquatic plants formerly classified in the f ...

'', and ''

Sisymbrium turczaninowii ''Sisymbrium'' is a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae. Selected species * '' Sisymbrium altissimum'' – Jim Hill mustard, tall rocket, tall tumblemustard * ''Sisymbrium crassifolium'' * '' Sisymbrium erysimoides'' * '' Sisymbrium i ...

''. Also in 1836,

Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

published ''

Turczaninovia ''Turczaninovia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae. It only contains one known species, ''Turczaninovia fastigiata''. Its native range stretches from south-eastern Siberia (within the Russian province ...

'', which is a monotypic genus of flowering plants from Russia to China, belonging to the family Asteraceae. It was named in Nikolai Turczaninow's honour.

References