Memoranda Soc. Soc. Fauna Fauna Flora Flora Fennica Fennica 89, 89: 2013 75–104. • Uotila 2013 75 Finnish botanists on the Kola Peninsula (Russia) up to 1918 Pertti Uotila Uotila, P., Finnish Museum of Natural History (Botany), P.O.Box 7, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail:
[email protected] Finnish botanists actively studied the flora of Karelia (Karelian Republic) and the Kola Peninsula (Murmansk Region) when Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia in 1809–1918. J. Fellman’s ex- peditions in 1829 were the first notable botanical expeditions to the area. Geologically and floristi- cally the area was similar to Finland, and exploring the area was considered to be a national duty for Finnish biologists. Almost 40 Finnish scientists who travelled on the Kola Peninsula collected significant amounts of herbarium specimens from there. The specimens are mostly in H, but du- plicates were distributed widely. The collectors include M. Aschan, W. M. Axelson (Linnaniemi), V. Borg (Kivilinna), M. Brenner, V. F. Brotherus, R. Envald, J. Fellman, N. I. Fellman, C. W. Fontell, E. af Hällström, H. Hollmén, P. A. Karsten, A. Osw. Kihlman (Kairamo), F. W. Klingstedt, H. Lindberg, J. Lindén, A. J. Malmberg (Mela), J. Montell, F. Nylander, J. A. Palmén, V. Pesola, P. A. Rantaniemi, J. Sahlberg, and G. Selin. A short description is given of the biographies of the most important collectors with notes on their itineraries. Details of the collections from the Kola Peninsula are mostly taken from the vascular-plant specimens kept in the Finnish main herbaria and entered in the Floristic database Kastikka of the Finnish Museum of Natural History.