The Lichenologist 44(1): 1–4 (2012) © British Society, 2011 doi:10.1017/S002428291100079X

A tribute to Aino Marjatta Henssen (1925-2011)

F. 1. 2003 in Römerswil (Switzerland) (photo: R. Honegger)

On August 29, 2011 a unique person and the Ruhr area, Berlin, and after World War prominent lichenologist passed away. Aino II, the family moved to Marburg. In this Henssen has been a leader in lichen system- small university town the family moved into a atics and of cyanolichens for dec- large apartment that they shared for the first ades. Her textbook Lichenes – Eine Einführung few years with other families. Aino would live in die Flechtenkunde (Henssen and Jahns in this apartment for most of her life and 1974), co-authored by her former Ph. D. numerous visitors will remember her home in student Hans Martin Jahns, has been a stan- Biegenstrasse 52 filled with reminders of her dard text book for some decades and pre- travels, books and her impressive private li- sented a classification system that integrated chen collection. She enjoyed inviting her stu- lichenized fungi with non-lichenized fungi. dents and co-workers and having colleagues This classification has been influential for visiting, who would often be offered home years and the detailed descriptions of ac- cooked dishes; cakes with wild berries and cepted families and orders in this book have pickled mushrooms prepared according to so far not been matched by any subsequent Finnish recipes were among the items to be classification proposal. tasted. Aino Henssen was born on April 12, 1925 Aino studied Biology in Freiburg for one in Elberfeld in the Ruhr area of Germany as semester and afterwards continued her studies the second of three children of the Finn Toini in Marburg, where she graduated in 1953 with Saraste and the German folk tales studying a doctoral thesis on the physiology of the scientist Gottfried Henssen. She grew up in aquatic flowering plant Spirodela polyrrhiza.

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After her Ph. D., she worked for a year in an in Marburg in 1963. She passed her habilita- agricultural institute at the University of tion in Systematic Botany in 1965, and in Bonn before she took up a postdoctoral pos- 1970 was appointed Associate Professor for ition at the Institute for Bacteriology in thallophyte studies in Marburg, a position she Berlin, where she worked until 1956 on held until her retirement in 1990. In Marburg actinomycetes, a field that continued to inter- she continued to work during her entire career est her throughout her career. She was both on and actinomycetes, focusing especially interested in dung-inhabiting on the taxonomy and systematics of these micro-organisms and later students in her organisms. Her main interests in mycology course regularly had to deal with focused on the ascoma ontogeny of major piles of horse, cow and sheep dung to study lichen groups and the taxonomy of cyano- her favourite groups of micro-organisms. In philic lichens. Seminal papers on comparative her career, Aino studied the taxonomy of morphology and ontogeny of lichenized fungi actinomycetes intensely and described two include her study on the hemiangiocarpous new genera in 1957, Pseudonocardia Henssen development in lichens now classified in the and Thermomonospora Henssen, and a num- subclass Ostropomycetidae (Henssen 1976), ber of new species. the review on gymnocarpous development Next, Aino intended to work on mosses types in the “Lecanoralean centrum” and liverworts, however, her work and travels (Henssen et al. 1981), which roughly agrees in Fennoscandia introduced her to the diver- with the in current classi- sity of lichens in these areas. She developed a fications, and the studies on ascoma develop- love for lichens and they remained her pas- ment in the Arthoniales (Henssen and Thor sion until her death. As she had the oppor- 1994). Her studies on cyanophilic lichens in- tunity to pursue her interest in lichenology cluded various groups but focused mainly on not much was published by her on mosses the Lichinales with important contributions and liverworts. Thanks to different scholar- being her discussion of generic concepts in the ships she was able study in Finland, Sweden, Lichinaceae (Henssen 1979), description of Canada and the USA. Most important for the new family Gloeoheppiaceae (Henssen her career were her first visits to the Botanical 1995), and taxonomy of the genus Heppia Institute in Helsinki in 1956 and then a re- (Henssen 1994). However, she also had search visit in Uppsala. Here she was influ- strong interest in other groups of cyanophilic enced by the Swedish school of ascomycete lichens, such as the Arctomiaceae (Henssen systematics lead by John Axel Nannfeldt. 1969b), (Henssen and James Nannfeldt was very interested in the on- 1982), Collemataceae (Henssen 1965), and the togeny of ascomata and classified major Pannariaceae (Henssen 1969a). She published groups of ascomycetes based on their ontoge- more than 120 scientific articles, books and netic type (Nannfeldt 1932). Aino’s study on book chapters, over 100 of those on lichenized, the systematics of Lichinaceae (Henssen lichenicolous or allied fungi. During her career, 1963) is a fine example of the first rate re- Aino described three orders (Arthoniales, Gya- search produced by this group. At a time lectales, Lichinales), three families (Coccocarpi- when lichenology was often local, Aino was aceae, Coccotremataceae, Gloeoheppiaceae), 21 one of the first truly international lichenolo- genera, over 150 species, and proposed more gists. Scholarships allowed her to work from than 80 new combinations. Her systematic 1961–63 in Boulder (Colorado), Harvard studies were important, since they conse- (Massachussetts) and Toronto (Canada), to quently applied fungal characters for the de- widen her horizons and to collect in North limitation of natural groups of lichen (fungi) America. After these years during which with special focus on ascomatal characters and Aino acquired a lot of international experi- their development. At the time, these were new ence and new ideas for her research program, and revolutionary concepts when textbooks she was appointed curator of the Crypto- kept lichens as a separate group from fungi and gamic Herbarium at the Philipps-University when there was little, if any, interactions

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between taxonomists of lichen-forming and completing a M. Sc. thesis on a lichen topic non-lichenized fungi. Therefore her studies and with her include Thomas Friedl, and the especially her textbook were important steps for authors of this obituary. the progress of lichenology in the 1970s and Another passion of Aino was field work 1980s. Although she established treating li- and travelling. She often visited relatives in chenized fungi as such, she never overlooked Finland (she spoke Finnish fluently) and the importance of photobionts (e.g. James & Switzerland. She enjoyed debating her find- Henssen 1976). ings with colleagues, and participated in Aino Henssen’s research was highly re- many international congresses. However, spected by her peers, which can be seen in the due to emerging health problems IAL2 was 11 or more lichenized fungi