Franz Petrak (9 October 1886, Mährisch-Weißkirchen – 9 October 1973, Vienna) was an Austrian-Czech mycologist.
Franz Petrak | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 9, 1886 |
| Died | October 9, 1973 (aged 87) |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany, Mycology |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Petr. |
From 1906 to 1910, he studied botany at the University of Vienna, where he was a student of Richard Wettstein. In 1913 he obtained his doctorate of sciences, and until 1916, worked as a high school teacher in Vienna. During World War I, he was stationed in Galicia and Albania, where he collected specimens in his spare time.[1] From 1918 to 1938, he worked as a private scientist in his home town, and from 1938 to 1951, was associated with the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna.[2]
He was the author of nearly 500 published works, primarily in the field of mycology.[3] Much of his mycological work was published in the journal Annales mycologici and its successor Sydowia. Reportedly, his private herbarium contained 100,000 specimens.[2] Starting from 1908 until 1970 he edited exsiccatae by distributing large sets of fungal and plant specimens.[4]
As a taxonomist, he described numerous species within the genus Cirsium (family Asteraceae).[5]
The mycological genera of; Petrakia Syd. & P.Syd. 1913 (family Pseudodidymellaceae), Petrakiella Syd. 1924 (Phyllachoraceae), Franzpetrakia Thirum. & Pavgi 1957 (Ustilaginaceae), Petrakiopeltis Bat., A.F.Vital & Cif. 1958 (Microthyriaceae), Petrakiopsis Subram. & K.R.C.Reddy 1968 (Ascomycota) and Petrakina (family Asterinaceae) have all been named in his honor, the latter genus being circumscribed by Raffaele Ciferri in 1932.[2][6]
Franz Petrak died 9 October 1973 in Vienna.[7]
Selected works
- Die nordamerikanischen Arten der Gattung Cirsium, 1917.
- Die Gattungen der Pyrenomyzeten, Sphaeropsideen und Melanconiee, 1926.
- Die phaeosporen Shaeropsideen und die Gattung Macrophoma, 1926.
- "Index of fungi. Petrak's lists, 1920-1939". Cumulative index by the Commonwealth Mycological Institute (Great Britain), 1956.
- "Index of fungi : list of new species and varieties of fungi, new combinations and new names published 1920-1939", 1957.
- "Index of fungi: a supplement to Petrak's lists, 1920-1939". By the Commonwealth Mycological Institute (Great Britain), 1969.[8]