Henry Dissing, 31. March 1931 – 10. December 2009

Thomas LÆSSØE Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen Universitetsparken 15 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø [email protected]

Ascomycete.org, 2 (4) : 3-6. Summary: Biography of Henry Dissing, Danish mycologist, specialist of , died Février 2011 in December 2009.

Keywords: Tribute, Danish mycologist, University of Copenhagen, .

Résumé : biographie d’Henry Dissing, mycologue danois, spécialiste des Pezizales, dé- cédé en décembre 2009.

Mots-clés : hommage, mycologue danois, université de Copenhague, Ascomycota.

Henry was born in Jutland, in a small village, where he was association was with Sigmund Sivertsen in Norway. Throu- expected to follow in his father’s footsteps as a potter. He ghout, he trained Master students in all sorts of mycological chose a completely different career but did support his early topics, and one of them, Karen Hansen, continues his work education by working at the royal porcelain factory in Co- on the Pezizales (from Stockholm). Others are employed in penhagen. After that, he studied at Copenhagen University the biotechnological industry or teach at high school. A long where he started his biology studies in 1960. He very soon lasting teaching effort was the mycological field courses held became interested in fungi and quickly became part of the from 1965-2009 at the Kristiansminde Field Centre, where group around Morten Lange at the newly established “Insti- Henry participated in most courses until retirement, and tut for Sporeplanter”, where Lise Hansen was another core more than one thousand students got their mycological field member. Henry became the ascomycote person and Morten training during this period, including a lot of Norwegian stu- dealt with agarics and also collaborated with Henry on “Gas- dents. teromycetes”, while Lise took care of the “Aphyllophorales”. In the years before retirement, Henry focused on Pezizales Already as a student, Henry took on a lot of responsibilities from Greenland and other arctic-alpine areas such as nor- at the institute in order to cover for Morten, who had many thern Norway and the Swiss Alps. political activities in- and outside the university. The very first Henry’s otium was not a long one due to ill health, but he scientific work from Henry’s hands was inspired by Morten, was at the very end in his beloved summer cottage at Enø and dealt with two coprophilous “Coprinus” species. All (southwest Zealand, Denmark). He leaves his wife Inger and through the remaining part of his working life Henry kept a the children, Henrik and Dorthe, behind, besides grand chil- glowing interest in dung fungi. Henry’s only tropical expe- dren. rience came from his participation in the Noona Dan expe- dition to islands in the vicinity of New Guinea, and later he Publications on the Pezizales became much more interested in alpine and arctic mycology, where he mainly studied the Pezizales. He was also involved and other Ascomycota in more ecological studies of pyrophilous fungi with Peter Milan Petersen in the lead. For his thesis work, Henry took DISSING H. 1963. — Studies in the flora of Thailand 25. Dis- on a European revision of the , where he de- comycetes and Gasteromycetes. Dansk Botanisk Arkiv, 23 veloped his skill in carefully produced line drawings of ana- (1): 115-130. tomical sections. Later, he also included a lot of SEM images DISSING H. 1964. — Studies in arctic and subarctic discomy- in his Pezizales papers. He gradually became an internatio- cetes I. The genus Helvella. Botanisk Tidsskrift, 60 (1-2): nal leader in his field, and he had a fruitful collaboration with 108-128. overseas sabbatical visitors to the institute, including Dick DISSING H. 1966. — The genus Helvella in Europe with special Korf and Don Pfister. He had year long collaborations with emphasis on the species found in Norden. Dansk Bota- Emil Müller and Egon Horak in Switzerland, but his longest nisk Arkiv, 25 (1): 1-172. 3 DISSING H. 1966. — A revision of collections of the genus Hel- DISSING H. 1980. — Slægten Melastiza i Danmark [The genus vella L. ex St.-Amans emend. Nannf. in the Boudier Her- Melastiza in Denmark]. Svampe, 1: 29-33. barium. Revue de Mycologie (Paris), 31 (3): 189-224, fig. DISSING H. & KORF R.P. 1980. — Preliminary studies in the ge- 8-11. nera Ruhlandiella, Sphaerosoma, and Sphaerozone (order DISSING H. & NANNFELDT J.A. 1966. — Helvella cupuliformis sp. Pezizales). Mycotaxon, 12 (1): 287-306. nov., H. villosa (Hedw. ex O. Kuntze) comb. nov., H. ma- DISSING H. & SIVERTSEN S. 1980. Operculate Discomycetes cropus (Pers. ex Fr.) Karst., and their allies. Svensk Bota- from Rana (Norway). 3. Helvella rivularis sp. nov. Botanisk niskTidskrift, 60 (2): 325-337, pl. I-III Tidsskrift, 75 (2-3): 101-104. DISSING H. & LANGE M. 1967. — Notes on the genus Helvella DISSING H. 1981. — Four new species of Discomycetes (Pezi- in North America. Mycologia, 59 (2): 349-360. zales) from West Greenland. Mycologia, 73 (2): 263-273. DISSING H. 1972. — Specific and generic delimitation in the DISSING H. 1981. — Danske stenmorkler og deres nærmeste . Persoonia, 6(4): 425-432. slægtninge (slægterne Gyromitra, Discina og Rhizina) [An DISSING H. & RAITVIIR A. 1973. — Discomycetes of Middle Asia account of Danish members of Gyromitra, Discina and II. Thelebolaceae, , and Rhizina]. Svampe, 3: 1-9. from the Tien-Shan Mountains. Eesti NSV Tea- DISSING H. & PFISTER D.H. 1981. — Scabropezia, a new genus duste Akadeemia Tometised, Biologia, 22 (2): 124-129. of Pezizaceae (Pezizales). Nordic Journal of Botany, 1 (1): DISSING H. 1974. — Plicaria acanthodictya, a new fireplace 102-108. discomycete from Denmark. In: Travaux mycologiques dé- DISSING H. 1982. — Operculate discomycetes (Pezizales) from diés à R. Kühner. Bulletin mensuel de la Société linnéenne Greenland. In: LAURSEN G. & AMMIRATI J.F. (eds.). Arctic and de Lyon, 43, num. spéc.: 139-146. Alpine Mycology, 1: 56-81. DISSING H. & RAITVIIR A. 1974. — Discomycetes of Middle Asia DISSING H. 1982. — Skive-Foldbægersvamp (Discina parma III. Otideaceae, Helvellaceae, Morchellaceae and Sarcos- Breitenbach & Maas Geesteranus) fundet i Danmark [Dis- cyphaceae from the Tien-Shan Mountains. Eesti NSV Tea- cina parma recorded in Denmark]. Svampe, 6: 106. duste Akadeemia Tometised, Biologia, 23 (2): 104-111. DISSING H. 1983. — Helvella aestivalis - a species with a true DISSING H. 1975. — ovilla Peck = Humaria rhodoleuca arctic-alpine-subalpine distribution. Agarica, 4 (8): 176- Bres. Bulletin de la Société mycologique de France, 91: 182. 544. DISSING H. 1983. — Tre nye bægersvampe (Pezizales) i Dan- DISSING H. & PAULSEN M.P. 1975. — Trichophaeopsis tetras- mark [Aleuria bicucullata, Chalazion helveticum & Mila- pora, a new coprophilous discomycete from Denmark. Bo- dina lecithina recorded in Denmark; all with SEM spore tanisk Tidsskrift, 70 (2-3): 147-151. pictures]. Svampe, 7: 43-45. DISSING H. & SIVERTSEN S. 1975. — Operculate Discomycetes DISSING H. & SIVERTSEN S. 1983. — Operculate Discomycetes from Rana (Norway) 1. Chalazion sociabile gen. nov., sp. from Rana (Norway) 4. Octospora hygrohypnophila, Peziza nov. Norwegian Journal of Botany, 22 (1): 1-4. prosthetica and Scutellinia mirabilis spp. nov. Nordic Jour- DISSING H. 1977 [1976]. — A new species of Boudiera from nal of Botany, 3 (3): 415-421. Norway. Kew Bulletin, 31 (3): 755-758. DISSING H. & SIVERTSEN S. 1983. — Operculate Discomycetes DISSING H. 1978. — The genus Boudiera Cooke, from Rana (Norway) 5. Rhodoscypha gen. nov. and Rho- and ecology. Abstract. 7th. Congr. Europ. Mycol.: 70. dotarzetta gen. nov. Mycotaxon, 16 (2): 441-460. DISSING H. 1978. — Kogle-Skivesvamp - resultat af en efter- DISSING H. 1984. — En ny dansk bægersvamp Peziza apicu- lysning [Piceomphale bulgarioides – the result of a re- lata Cooke [A new Danish cup Peziza apiculata quest to the public]. Urt, 1978 (1): 29. Cooke]. Svampe, 10: 85. DISSING H. & KORF R.P. 1978. — Peziza umbilicata Karsten, an DISSING H. 1985 (1986?). — Smardaea purpurea (Pezizales), older but unavailable name for Peziza ostracoderma, apo- another new species from Graubünden, Switzerland. Sy- thecial peat mould. Mycotaxon, 7 (1): 58-60. dowia, 38: 35-40. DISSING H. 1979. — Helvella papuensis, a new species from DISSING H. 1985. — Helvella aestivalis - with notes on its eda- Papua New Guinea. Beihefte zur Sydowia, 8: 156-161. phic conditions in Arctic Canada. Agarica, 6 (2): 336-340. PAULSEN M.D. & DISSING H. 1979. — The genus Ascobolus in DISSING H. 1987. — Three 4-spored Saccobolus species from Denmark. Botanisk Tidsskrift, 74: 67-78. north east Greenland. In: LAURSEN G.A., AMMIRATI J.F. & DISSING H. & SCHUMACHER T. 1979. — Preliminary studies in the REDHEAD S.A. (eds.). Alpine and arctic Mycology II. Environ- genus Boudiera, taxonomy and ecology. Norwegian Jour- mental Science Research, 34: 79-86. nal of Botany, 26 (2): 99-109. DISSING H. 1988. — Pulvinula Boud., a synonym for Pulparia DISSING H. 1980. — Chalazion helveticum (Pezizales), a new Karst. Mycotaxon, 32: 365-368. species from Graubünden, Switzerland. Sydowia, 33: 29- DISSING H. & SIVERTSEN S. 1988. — Lathraeodiscus arcticus 32, pl. 1. gen. nov., sp. nov. (order Pezizales), a new discomycete 4 H. Dissing during a survey in East-Greenland, August 1983. Photograph by Henrik F. Gøtzsche.

from North Greenland and Svalbard. Mycologia, 80 (6): fund [records of unusual Danish fungi] [colour picture]. 832-836. Svampe, 33: 56-57 + 62. DISSING H. 1989. — Four new coprophilous species of Asco- HANSEN K., SANDAL S.K. & DISSING H. 1998. — New and rare bolus and Saccobolus from Greenland (Pezizales). Opera species of Pezizales from calcareous woodlands in Den- Botanica, 100: 43-50. mark. Nordic Journal of Botany, 18 (5): 611-626. DISSING H., KORF R.P. & SIVERTSEN S. 1990. — (968) Proposal DISSING H. 2000. — Pezizales, Leotiomyceta p.p (and p.p. with to conserve Pulvinula Boudier over Pulparia P. Karsten Vesterholt, J.) and p.p. (and p.p. with (Fungi). Taxon, 39 (1): 130-131. Læssøe, T.). In: HANSEN L. & KNUDSEN H. (eds). Nordic ma- DISSING H. 1992. — Notes on the coprophilous pyrenomycete cromycetes 1: 55-128, 130-141, 145, 151-152, 157-160, Sporormia fimetaria. Persoonia, 14(4): 389-394. 213-215, 218-226, 229, 231-236 and 250-252. DISSING H. 1992. — Rynket Klokkemorkel () - en “ny” art for Danmark [first report of Verpa bohemica from Denmark]. Svampe, 26: 49-51. Acknowledgements DISSING H. 1993. — Two new species of Discomycetes (order I wish to thank Ulrik Søchting, Henning Knudsen and Henrik Pezizales) from Graubünden, Switzerland. Bibliotheca My- F. Gøtzsche for help, photographs and inspiration in prepa- cologica, 150: 17-22. ring this paper. Thank you also to the Henry’s family for the DISSING H. & SCHUMACHER T. 1994. — Discussion 7. Pezizales. photographs. In: HAWKSWORTH D.L. (ed.). Ascomycete systematics. Pro- blems and perspectives in the nineties: 397-401. Plenum Press. DISSING H. 1996. — To nye fund af Pseudombrophila ripen- sis. In: VESTERHOLT J. (ed.). Usædvanlige danske svampe- 5 Henry Dissing and his son, Henrik; June 2007. Photograph by Karina Goyle.

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