L. Hably szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 20. 1988 (Budapest, 1988)

Kováts, Dezső: In memoriam Viktor Greschik who was born 125 years ago (1862-1946)

STUDIA BOTANIGA HUNGARICA (Antea: Fragmenta Botanica) XX. 1938 p. 5-7 In memóriám Viktor Greschik who was born 125 years ago (1862-1946) By D. KOVÁTS (Received Nevem her 30, 1987) The botanist VIKTOR GRESCHIK was an outstanding expert of the flora of "Upper Hungary", especially of the High Tatras. He was a teacher, a local historian and an editor of a newspaper, too. GRESCHIK was born on 2 9th March, 1862 in Lőcse (now Levo£a in Czechoslovakia). He was the descendant of a German "Zipser" family in the "Upper Hungary" in those days. From his childhood he was keenly interested in natural history, especially in plants and he was a very keen gardener. GRESCHIK first went to school in his native town Lőcse, later on in Igló (now Spisska Nová Ves in Czechoslovakia) and in Szepeshely (Spisska Kapitula now belongs to Spisské Podhradie in Czechoslovakia). He graduated from teacher's training college in the latter town in 1882. He first taught in Késmárk (now Kezmarok in Czechoslovakia), in the Roman Catholic Elementary School for 5 years (1882- 1887). During this time he studied the local flora around the town and the flora of the High Tatras. In the meantime he already exchanged specimens with several foreign collectors, in this way he could considerably enrich his collection with foreign materials. In the beginning his interest turned to lichens and mosses, after this he was first of all interested in fungi. In addition, he collected data on the effects of medicinal plants for more than 60 years. By this time he started to collect books for his subsequently large and valuable library, first of all by purchasing the famous mycological literature of his day. From 1887 onwards he taught in Lőcse, later on to become director of the school (1901-1914), which he left only to retire. As a well-known botanist - working with lichens, mosses, fungi and flowering plants he had an active professional contact with many of the leading Hungarian botanists, to mention some of them: Dr. N. FILARSZKY, Dr. V. BORBÁS, Dr. L. SIMONKAI, Dr. I. GYŐRFFY, Dr. E. Gy. NYÁRÁDY, Dr. L. HOLLÓS etc. GRESCHIK had contacts nearly all over the world: Dr. V. REICHARDT in Wien, Dr. F. PAX in Breslau (now Wroclaw, with whom he went on collecting trips), Dr. G. BRESADOLA in Trento, Dr. P. MAGNUS, Dr. P. SYDOW and Dr. E. KÖHNE in Berlin, Dr. J. ROLL in Darmstadt, Dr. O.G. BLOMBERG in Uppsala, Dr. P. A. SACCARDO in Padova, Dr. M. C. COOKE in London, Dr. J. GILLET in Paris, Dr. F. ARNOLD in Munich, Dr. K. HEGETSCHWEILER in Zurich, Dr. J. S. DEICHMANN BRANTH in Copenhagen, Dr. M. WORONIN and Dr. A. FAMINTZIN in Leningrad, Dr. W. TIEHOMIROW in Moscow, Dr. W. SAPOSHNIKOFF in Tomsk, Dr. C. G. LLOYD in Cincinnati, Dr. J. HATCH in San Francisco, Dr. J. FOWLER in Kingston, Dr. Y. SANCHEZ in Domingo (the Philippines) etc. Acknowledging GRESCHIK's botanical activity, new fungi species were named after him by the leading authority on fungi at that time, the world-famous abbot G. BRESADOLA: Polyporus Greschikii, the current valid name being Antrodia xantha (Fr. ex Fr. ) Ryv. 1973 (syn. Poria greschikii); Corticium Greschikii, the current valid name being Fibricium rude (P. Karst.) Jülich 1974 and Cytospora Greschikii. A new moss species was also named after him