Olof Swartz's contributions to lichenology, 1781–1811

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The Swedish botanist Olof Peter Swartz (1760–1818), a student of Carl Peter Thunberg and Carl Linnaeus the Younger at Uppsala University, developed an interest in mosses and lichens, which he made the subject of his medical dissertation. He visited Jamaica (1783–1786) where he collected all plant groups and a substantial number of lichens. Apart from the lichens that Swartz described himself, his lichen collections from Sweden, the eastern United States and Jamaica were critically examined by Erik Acharius who described many species from his material. Swartz was a key supporter of Acharius's work on the development of a new system of lichen taxonomy between 1794 and 1814. Although he is largely known for his pioneering work on flowering plants (especially orchids) and ferns, Swartz made important contributions to late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century lichenology, publishing five major accounts describing 37 new species. Of these, 27 names are basionyms of accepted taxa.