William Nylander (botanist)

{{Short description|Finnish botanist and entomologist (1822–1899)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}

File:William Nylander-2.jpg

William (Wilhem) Nylander (3 January 1822 – 29 March 1899){{cite web |url=https://ylioppilasmatrikkeli.fi/henkilo.php?id=15671 |title=William Nylander |language= fi |author=Kotivuori, Yrjö |date=2005 |website=Ylioppilasmatrikkeli 1640–1852 (The alumni book)|publisher=Helsingin yliopisto |access-date=22 January 2015}} was a Finnish botanist and entomologist. Nylander was born in Oulu, and taught at the University of Helsinki before moving to Paris, France, where he lived until his death in 1899.

Nylander studied medicine, receiving a degree in 1847. Nylander pioneered the technique of determining the taxonomy of lichens by the use of chemical reagents, such as potassium hydroxide, tinctures of iodine and calcium hypochlorite, still used by lichenologists as the K and C tests.{{Cite journal|author-link=Orvo Vitikainen |last=Vitikainen|first=Orvo|year=2001|title=William Nylander (1822–1899) and Lichen Chemotaxonomy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3244891|journal=The Bryologist|volume=104|issue=2|pages=263–267|doi=10.1639/0007-2745(2001)104[0263:WNALC]2.0.CO;2|jstor=3244891|s2cid=85930554 |issn=0007-2745}}

Nylander was the first to realise the effect of atmospheric pollution on the growth of lichens, an important discovery that paved the way for the use of lichens to detect pollution and determine the cleanness of air. His brother Fredrik Nylander was also a botanist.

Nylander was one of the most prolific authors of new fungal and lichen species, having formally described about 3700 in his career.{{cite journal |authorlink=Robert Lücking |last=Lücking |first=Robert |title=Three challenges to contemporaneous taxonomy from a licheno-mycological perspective |journal=Megataxa |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=2020 |doi=10.11646/megataxa.1.1.16 |page=78–103 [85]}} He edited the exsiccata series Herbarium lichenum Parisiensium, quod edidit William Nylander Med. Dr.{{cite web |title=Herbarium lichenum Parisiensium, quod edidit William Nylander Med. Dr.: IndExs ExsiccataID=396082639 |website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=396082639 |access-date=24 May 2024}}

{{botanist|Nyl.}}