Plant Systematics World
TAXON 63 (3) • June 2014: 703–709
PLANT SYSTEMATICS WORLD
Edited by Vicki Funk
KNUD IB CHRISTENSEN (1955–2012)
identification standard of the collection and the maintenance of the collection database. In this period KIC’s fields of research were Knud Ib Christensen (KIC), specialist in the taxonomy and nomorphometric studies of hybrid populations, revisions, including menclature of woody plants, particularly gymnosperms, the genus a large revision of Crataegus sect. Crataegus and nothosect. CraCrataegus (Rosaceae) and the family Salicaceae, died suddenly on taeguineae in the Old World, nomenclature of woody plants and 16 January 2012, only 56 years old. Danish botany and international contributions of families with woody species to European Floras. dendrology have suffered a sad loss by KIC’s untimely death. KIC published 56 new names or combinations, many of which were at the infraspecific level. The publications are usually illustrated by Born in Aalborg, in the northernmost part of Denmark, KIC took broad interests in nature from his early years. Those interests KIC’s competent drawings and careful analyses of hybridization lead KIC to the study of biology, geography and geology at the Univisualized with Wells’ hybrid distance diagrams. In a large publiversity of Copenhagen and to participate in Professor Arne Strid’s cation with H.V. Hansen KIC used scanning electron microscopy to group working on the flora of Greece, initially the two volume analyse the micromorphology of petal surfaces with samples from Mountain Flora of Greece. In 1985 KIC was awarded a Master’s virtually all angiosperm families. degree in systematic botany, obtaining the highest possible marks From November 1998 to June 2011 KIC was Associate Professor in his major subject. His M.Sc. thesis pointed directly towards one at the Botanical Garden, University of Copenhagen, with the identification of the living plant collection as his main responsibility. He of his future endeavours, with a study of the variation and natural was also manager of the Botanic Garden’s experimental fields on hybridization in Pinus mugo and P. sylvestris, and the infrageneric the outskirts of Copenhagen. KIC’s publications from that period classification of the genus Pinus. His Ph.D. was obtained in 1988 and dealt also with woody plants: Flora accounts of various woody plant continued to deal with classification, mainly at the species level, and families for the Flora Hellenica (vols. 1–3) hybridization in gymnosperms and Craand a taxonomic and phytogeographical taegus, but the scope was widened both geographically to include tropical Amerstudy of the genus Crataegus (Rosaceae) in Europe, North Africa and western Asia. ica and methodologically to include DNA Among KIC’s preparations for this project sequence data. During 2011 KICs post at were a stay of long duration in Greece, the Botanical Garden was abolished and where he studied the collections at the his appointment terminated. Universities of Athens and Patras and the KIC also delivered contributions, Goulandris Museum in Kifissa, as well as mainly about families with woody plants, on many field trips to all parts of Greece. to vols. 1, 2 and 6 of the Flora Nordica, a The periods of field work were mainly research and publication project to revise carried out in collaboration with Profesthe flora of Sweden, Finland, Norway, sor Arne Strid and Associate Professor Per Denmark, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands Hartvig of the University of Copenhagen. based at the Bergianske Foundation, After obtaining his Ph.D., KIC was Stockholm, with Professor Bengt Jonsell first employed at the Danish Arboretum as main editor. In addition, KIC continat Hørsholm north of Copenhagen, an inued to contribute to the still unpublished Atlas Flora Danica, the Flora Hellenica stitution that was then part of the Royal Danish Veterinary and Agricultural Uniprojects, and the project Skånes Flora (Flora of Scania), run by the Botanical versity. Here KIC was an Associate ProSociety of Lund. Apart from gymnofessor of Dendrology and responsible for sperms and Crataegus these Flora acthe identification of the accessions to the Arboretum and to the older Forstbotanisk counts also included the critical family Have [Garden of Forest Botany] at CharSalicaceae, where hybridization makes lottenlund near Copenhagen and for the identification difficult. Knud Ib Christensen, ca. 2009. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12705/633.31
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KICs work at the University of Copenhagen included instruction in plant identification and taxonomy. Also the Open University programme in Copenhagen benefitted from his professional knowledge, incl. the construction and use of databases and the construction of multiple-entry and interactive keys using MEKA (Multiple-Entry Key Algorithm) and SLIKS (Stinger’s Lightweight Interactive Key Software). KIC had an extensive professional network established through scientific collaboration and interaction between arboreta. The network focussed on North America, Scandinavia, eastern Europe and Russia, but reached as far as Kashmir. It is fitting that members of KIC’s network still publish papers with KIC as posthumous coauthor: about hybridization between Pinus mugo and P. sylvestris and spontaneous hybrids in Crataegus, two of the first subjects on KIC’s publication list. KIC was member of a range of societies dealing with collections of woody plants, incl. Nordisk Arboretudvalg (Nordic Arboretum Association) and Dansk Dendrologisk Forening (Danish Dendrological Society). At the time of his death he was vice-president for the latter organization and wrote many articles for the Society’s yearbook. The Society published in 2009 KIC’s book Nåletræer i Danmark og Norden (Conifers in Denmark and the Nordic countries). It is a manual for the identification of conifers with an interactive CD designed by KIC and enriched by beautiful images of representative specimens, all photographed by its author. KIC is survived by his wife Kirsten Bruhn Møller, also a botanist, and his co-author on popular botanical books in Danish, including an illustrated guide to the plants in Denmark from 2002, which has been reissued several times. Selected publications by Knud Ib Christensen The list, in chronological sequence, excludes popular publications in Danish and Swedish, including articles in the yearbooks of the Danish Dendrological Society, MEKA and SLIKS keys on the Internet or otherwise digitally available, and contributed Flora accounts to the Mountain Flora of Greece, Flora Hellenica and Flora Nordica, and to Red Data Lists. Christensen K.I. 1983. A biometric study of some hybridizing Crataegus populations in Denmark. Nordic J. Bot. 2(6): 537–548. Christensen, K.I. 1984. The morphological variation of some Crataegus populations (Rosaceae) in Greece and Yugoslavia. Nordic J. Bot. 4(5): 585–595. Christensen, K.I. 1985. A taxonomic study of Crataegus ser. Kyrtostylae Pojark. ex Botschantzev in Europe. Feddes Repert. 96(5–6): 363–385. Christensen, K.I. 1985. Juniperus communis subsp. alpina (Smith) Celakovsky (Cupressaceae): A nomenclatural comment. Taxon 34(4): 686–688. Christensen, K.I. 1987. Taxonomic revision of the Pinus mugo complex and P. × rhaetica (P. mugo × sylvestris) (Pinaceae). Nordic J. Bot. 7(4): 383–408. Christensen, K.I. 1987. Atypical cone and leaf character states in Pinus mugo Turta, P. sylvestris L. and P. × rhaetica Brugger (Pinaceae). Gleditschia 15(1): 1–5. Christensen, K.I. 1987. A morphometric study of the Pinus mugo Turra complex and its natural hybridization with P. sylvestris L. (Pinaceae). Feddes Repert. 98(11–12): 623–635. Christensen, K.I. 1991. Salix xanthicola (Salicaceae), a new species from northeastern Greece. Willdenowia 21(1/2): 105–111. Christensen, K.I. 1992. Revision of Crataegus sect. Crataegus and nothosect. Crataeguineae (Rosaceae Maloideae) in the Old World. Syst. Bot. Monogr. 35: 1–199. Christensen, K.I. 1992. The structure of some Crataegus (Rosaceae) populations in Greece. Willdenowia 22(1–2): 65–79.
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Christensen, K.I. 1993. Comments on the earliest validly published varietal name for the Corsican pine. Taxon 42(3): 649–653. Christensen, K.I. 1996. Crataegus katschenkoi, a new name for Crataegus trilobata (Rosaceae, Maloideae). Willdenowia 25: 633–636. Christensen, K.I. & Hassan Dar, G. 1997. A morphometric analysis of spontaneous and artificial hybrids of Pinus mugo × sylvestris (Pinaceae). Nordic J. Bot. 17(1): 77–86. Christensen, K.I. & Hansen, H.V. 1998. SEM-studies of epidermal patterns of petals in the angiosperms. Opera Bot. 135: 1–91. Christensen, K.I. 1998. Materials for Flora Nordica: Typification of some Maloideae (Rosaceae) commonly cultivated in Norden. Nordic J. Bot. 18(6): 701–703. Wicksell, U. & Christensen, K.I. 1999. Hybridization among Tilia cordata and T. platyphyllos (Tiliaceae) in Denmark. Nordic J. Bot. 19(6): 673–684. Christensen, K.I. & Hassan Dar, G. 1999. Habitat diversity and zonality of vegetation in Sind Valley, Kashmir Himalaya. Nature and Biosphere 1999(4): 49–71. Orlova, L.V. & Christensen, K.I. 2002. Typification of Pinus pallasiana, P. salzmannii and P. pityusa (Pinaceae). Nordic J. Bot. 22(2): 171–176. Christensen, K.I. & Akpulat, H.A. 2004. Iris celikii (Iridaceae), a new species from north-eastern Turkey. Nordic J. Bot. 24(2): 207–210. Christensen, K.I. 2005. A morphometric study of the geographic variation in Pinus contorta (Pinaceae). Nordic J. Bot. 23(5): 563–575. Christensen, K.I. & Jonsell, B. 2005. (1698) Proposal to conserve the name Salix fragilis with a conserved type (Salicaceae). Taxon 54(2): 555–556. Christensen, K.I. & Janjic, N. 2006. Taxonomic notes on European taxa of Crataegus (Rosaceae). Nordic J. Bot. 24(2): 143–147. Christensen, K.I. & Orlova, L.V. 2006. Typification of specific and infraspecific names in Abies, Larix, Picea and Pinus (Pinaceae). Feddes Repert. 117(7–8): 519–525. Christensen, K.I. 2006. Salix xanthicola (Salicaceae) — Distribution, ecology and relationships. Ann. Mus. Goulandris 11: 37–79. Christensen, K.I. & Zieliński, J. 2006. Notes on the genus Crataegus (Ros aceae—Pyreae) in southern Europe, the Crimea and western Asia. Nordic J. Bot. 26(5–6): 344–366. Talent, N., Eckenwalder, J.E., Christensen, K.I. & Dickinson, T.A. 2008. (1847) Proposal to conserve the name Crataegus against Mespilus (Ros aceae). Taxon 57(3): 1007–1008. Lo, E.Y.Y., Stefanović, S., Christensen, K.I. & Dickinson, T.A. 2009. Evidence for genetic association between East Asian and western North American Crataegus L. (Rosaceae) and rapid divergence of the eastern North America lineages based on multiple DNA sequences. Molec. Phylogen. Evol. 51: 157–168. Strandby, U., Christensen, K.I. & Sørensen, M. 2009. A morphometric study of the Abies religiosa-hickelii-guatemalensis complex (Pinaceae) in Guatemala and Mexico. Pl. Syst. Evol. 280: 59–76. Dickinson, T.A., Talent, N., Lo, E.Y.Y. & Christensen, K.I. 2009. So many hawthorns, or so few. Recent attempts to understand why. Pharm. Biol. 47(suppl. 1): 17–18. Hansen, H.V. & Christensen, K.I. 2009. The common chamomile and the scentless mayweed revisited. Taxon 58(1): 261–264. Sharifnia, F., Christensen, K.I., Seyedipour, N., Salimpour, F., Mehregan, I. 2011. Crataegus grossidentata sp. nov. (Rosaceae–Pyreae), a new hawthorn from northern Iran. Nordic J. Bot. 29(5): 534–537. Christensen, K.I. & Talent, N. 2012. Crataegus laevigata or C. levigata (Rosaceae) – A palaeographic analysis. Phyton (Horn) 52(2): 195–201. Danusevičius, D., Marozas, V., Brazaitis, G., Petrokas, R. & Christensen, K.I. 2012. Spontaneous hybridization between Pinus mugo and Pinus sylvestris at the Lithuanian seaside: A morphological survey. Sci. World J. 2012: Article 172407. http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/2012/172407 Christensen, K.I., Zarrei, M., Kuzmina, M., Talent, N., Lin, C. & Dickinson, T.A. I n press. Crataegus × ninae-celottiae and C. × cogswellii (Rosaceae, Maleae), two spontaneously formed intersectional nothospecies. PhytoKeys.
Acknowledgements We thank Knud Ib Christensen’s family for the portrait accompanying this obituary and T.A. Dickinson and N. Talent for comments on the manuscript.
Ib Friis* & Jette Dahl Møller Natural History Museum of Denmark, Sølvgade 83, Opgang S, København K, Denmark; *
[email protected]
