Herbarium William Nylander (H-NYL)

The lichen herbarium of William Nylander is part of the lichen collections of the Finnish Museum of Natural History. The separately kept collection comprises about 52 000 specimens of lichens (and some other fungi) from all over the world and includes an abundance of type specimens. The collection was received from the Finnish (- French) lichenologist William Nylander (1822–1899). Initially, Nylander was a medical doctor, then chose a career as an entomologist and finally focused on botany and lichens. He was appointed as the first Professor of Botany at our university in 1857 (then Imperial Alexander University), but resigned in 1863 and relocated to Paris, where he continued as a freelance scientist.