Turczaninov, Nicholai S. (1796 - 1863)

(also transliterated as N.S.Turtchaninov)

Born in Nikiovka, Ukraine, in 1796, died 26 December 1863.

Turczaninov held a number of Government posts, particularly in Siberia. In later years at least some of his duties included scientific studies and botany, and he pursued these studies in retirement. He amassed a very large personal herbarium, including purchased material from Drummond (3rd collection), Preiss and Brown, and exchanged material with Hooker, Bentham and Steetz. Between 1846 and 1863 he published widely on Australian taxa (inter alia), based on the collections in his herbarium. He described 43 Australian genera and over 400 species, most from the collections of Drummond, but never visited Australia. His Australian specimens are now housed in KW, where 1059 Types of Australian taxa are stored in a separate collection.

Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]