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Review
. 2022 Apr 26:89:1-86.
doi: 10.3897/mycokeys.89.79064. eCollection 2022.

Jakob Emanuel Lange: The man and his mushrooms

Ronald H Petersen  1 , Henning Knudsen  2
Affiliations
Review

Jakob Emanuel Lange: The man and his mushrooms

Ronald H Petersen et al. MycoKeys. .

Abstract

Jakob Emanuel Lange (1864-1941), Danish mushroom taxonomist and illustrator, was an agricultural educator and economic philosopher. A follower and translator of the American Henry George, Lange was Headmaster of a "Small-holders High-School," which served as a model for American folk-schools. Lange visited North America on three occasions. The first, in 1927, relied on his professional expertise; the second, in 1931, was purely mycological; and the third, 1939, was a combination of the two. All of this was lived against two World Wars and the Great Depression. This paper summarises the circumstances of Lange's life against a background of the American mycologists of the day, the ominous events over his adult lifetime and his magnum opus, "Flora Agaricina Danica", of five volumes illustrating ca. 1200 species on 200 coloured plates.

Keywords: Biography; mycologist.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Jakob Emanuel Lange. Comparison of Lange’s signature reveals that it changed remarkably little over many years.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Henry George. Source: Wikipedia.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Nickolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig. Source: Wikipedia.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The Odense ‘husmundsskole’, probably pre-WW II. Major building and ancillary buildings. The practising farm is at lower right, the orchard is top right and lower left, the formal garden surrounded by hedge is central. Source, DKArkiv.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
The Odense ‘husmundsskole’. 1940. Source: DKArkiv.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Olive Dame Campbell. Source: Wikipedia.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
John C. Campbell Folkschool advertising design. Source: John C. Campbell Folkschool.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
John Charles Campbell. Source: Wikipedia.
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
The Lange family. Left: Leila Lange; Centre; top, Leila’s father; centre, Jakob Lange; lower, Jens Jakob Lange; Upper right, Knud Morten Lange (age perhaps 2), Johanne Lange.
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Wildflower painting by Jakob or Johanme Lange. Source: Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.
Figure 11.
Figure 11.
Danebod Folkschool building. Source: Danebod.com.
Figure 12.
Figure 12.
Plate of Mycena taxa from first instalment of Lange’s “Studies.” Source: Dansk Botanisk Arkiv.
Figure 13.
Figure 13.
Lange aquarelle sketch dated 20 August 1931 (Pawlet, VT). Left: Mycenalaeiaena (“jaejana”). Right: Entolomasalmonea. Courtesy Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.
Figure 14.
Figure 14.
The Lange family, probably in the Adirondacks in 1931. Source: Mycoologia 26(1): 2.
Figure 15.
Figure 15.
Jakob’s painting of the scene at Seventh Lake, New York. Source: Lene Lange.
Figure 16.
Figure 16.
Lange aquarelle sketch dated 28 August 1931 (Cornell foray). Lactariussubpurpureus. Courtesy Natural History Museum of Denmark Copenhagen.
Figure 17.
Figure 17.
Mycological group at Cornell. Left to right: F.C. Stewart, H.M. Fitzpatrick, Vera Charles, Jakob Lange, C. W. Dodge, Gertrude Burlingham, L.R. Hesler. Source: Cornell University.
Figure 18.
Figure 18.
Jakob’s painting of the scene in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Source: Lene Lange.
Figure 19.
Figure 19.
The Lange family near Vancouver, Canada, 1931. “Chain-restaurant owner Frøstrup, teacher Chistensen and former pupil at the hudsmansskole Knudsen”. Source: Lange 1969? Centre, Morten Lange; rightmost, Leila and Jakob Lange.
Figure 20.
Figure 20.
Lange family, about 1934-1935. Left to right: Morten, Jens Jakob, Jakob E., Leila. Source: Morten, 1996.
Figure 21.
Figure 21.
Extent of “Lebensraum” as envisioned by Germany in 1934. Source: Wikipedia.
Figure 22.
Figure 22.
Detail from “Flora Agaricina Danica”, Vol. 1. Plate 1D. Amanitaphalloides. Original 11 × 13.5 cm.
Figure 23.
Figure 23.
Detail from “Flora Agaricina Danica”, Vol. 1. Plate 10F. Lepiotaacutesquamosa. Original 11 × 14.5 cm.
Figure 24.
Figure 24.
Detail from “Flora Agaricina Danica”, Vol. 1. Plate 40G. Clitocybeaggregatevar.ovispora. Original 12.5 × 14.5 cm.
Figure 25.
Figure 25.
Mycological Society of America Foray, 1939, Gatlinburg, TN 1 Helen Smith 2 David Linder 3 L.R. Hesler 4 Robert Hagelstein 5 Arthur Stupka, Smokey Mountains National Park biologist 6 Alexander H. Smith 7 L.O. Overholts 8 Morten Lange 9 John Dearness 10 C.L. Shear 11 J.E. Lange. Source: L.R. Hesler.
Figure 26.
Figure 26.
Lange aquarelle sketch dated 20 August 1939 (Gatlinburg, TN). Left: Hypoxylon “tentaculus”. Right: Cantharelluscinnabarinus. Courtesy Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.
Figure 27.
Figure 27.
Lange aquarelle sketch dated 20 August 1939 (Gatlinburg, TN). Lactariusindigo. Courtesy Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.
Figure 28.
Figure 28.
Mycological Society of America Foray, 1939, Gatlinburg, TN. Left to right: C.L. Shear, John Dearness, Morten Lange, Jakob Lange, Robert Hagelstein. Source: L.R. Hesler.
Figure 29.
Figure 29.
Detail from Flora Agaricina Danica. Plate 100D. Mycenacrocata. Original 9 × 11.5 cm.
Figure 30.
Figure 30.
Detail from “Flora Agaricina Danica”. Plate 130E. Galerasphagnorum. Original 11.5 × 12 cm.
Figure 31.
Figure 31.
Detail from “Flora Agaricina Danica”. Plate 153E. Psathyrastipitissima.Original 9 × 12.5 cm.
Figure 32.
Figure 32.
Detail of marquetry on the door of Jakob’s cabinet housing the first-run plates from “Flora Agaricina Danica”. Source: Lene Lange.
Figure 33.
Figure 33.
Jakob E. Lange on cover of “Grundskyld” (Nordic Journal of Economic Freedom and Justice). No. 1., 1943.
Figure 34.
Figure 34.
Knud Morten Lange in maturity. Source: on-line.
Figure 35.
Figure 35.
Jakob Lange at his microscope; age perhaps 60. Source: Henning Knudsen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aleza Lake Research Station (and Forest) (2007) Frank Dickson giving Eric Garman a haircut at Aleza Lake. https://search.nbca.unbc.ca/index.php/2007-1-25-7-51
    1. American Phytopathological Society (2001) Discovering women scientists: The legacy of Effie Southworth. [retrieved 17 Dec 2015]
    1. Anonymous (1932a) Mycologists resident in the British Empire. 1932. Imperial Mycological Institute, 21 pp.
    1. Anonymous (1932b) New York Mycological Society. Mycologia 24(2): e247.
    1. Anonymous (1996) John S. Karling 1897–1995. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 123(3): 258.

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