D. L. Hawksworth

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Biography

Lichenologist at the Commonwealth Mycological Institute, who I know mainly as an author of reference works. He wrote an excellent guide to fungal nomenclature, Mycologist's Handbook, and provided the articles on Lichens (and probably much more) for the sixth edition of Ainsworth & Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi, taking over the role of lead editor for that institution for the 1995 edition.

Selected Publications

Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth, D. L. Hawksworth & P. W. James (1971) Ainsworth & Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi 6th ed.

D. L. Hawksworth (1974) Mycologist's Handbook

An excellent reference book which attempts to give the complete technical background information in the nomenclature of fungi. It includes, for instance, the complete text of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, with examples inserted to illustrate how it applies to fungi, and an attempt to list all the people who have ever been cited in the name of a fungus.

Much of the technology he describes in the classification and preservation of fungi is thankfully behind us (I don't think we'll be using punch cards again any time soon), but other aspects of this work are still state-of-the-art.

Biographical entries in this website that have only first initials for the mycologist and birth/death dates have this book as their only source, as do entries where I wonder how the person ever got listed as a mycological author.

D. L. Hawksworth (1994) Ascomycete systematics: problems and perspectives in the nineties

D. L. Hawksworth, D. N. Pegler, P. M. Kirk & B. C. Sutton (1995) Dictionary of the Fungy 8th ed.

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