Plants and Other Materials Used for Dyeing in the Present Territory of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine according to Rostafinski's Questionnaire from 1883.

BACKGROUND: Traditional dyeing methods are practically forgotten in Poland. Józef Rostafinski included questions on the use of dyes in his ethnobotanical survey from 1883. METHODS: 126 questionnaires contained information on dye plants. They were identified by the respondents using folk names or sometimes even Latin names. Folk names were analyzed by comparison with other literature. Several voucher specimens were also present. RESULTS: 74 plant taxa were identified to genus or species level. The most commonly used were: onion (Allium cepa), brazilwood (Caesalpinia brasiliensis or Paubrasilia echinata), winter corn (mainly rye Secale cereale), black alder (Alnus glutinosa), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), apple (Malus domestica), birch (Betula pendula), oak (Quercus robur), and violet flowering spring flowers (mainly Hepatica nobilis and Pulsatilla spp.). CONCLUSIONS: Most species are well known in the literature about plant dyeing, but the paper provides extra details on the picture of dyeing traditions in Eastern Europe.

[POLISH EXPEDITION TO SPITSBERGEN IN 1934]. / POLSKA WYPRAWA NA SPITSBERGEN W 1934 ROKU.

Polish expedition to Spitsbergen in 1934 was already the second Polish polar expedition to the Arctic. It was scientific-mountaineering in character. 7 persons took part in it: Witold Biernawski (1898-1957)--film-maker and radiotelegraph operator, Stefan Bernadzikiewicz (1907-1939)--expedition leader, Henryk Mogilnicki (1906-1999)--photographer and radiotelegraph operator, Stefan Zbigniew Rózycki (1906-1988)--geologist, Stanislaw Siedlecki (1912-2002)--meteorological observer, Sylweriusz Bohdan Zagrajski (1892-1940)--triangulator, Antoni Rogal-Zawadzki (1896-1974)--topographer and photogrammetrist. The purpose of this expedition was to collect data in geology and cartography, and to a lesser degree--in glaciology, botany, zoology and meteorology. It lasted from May 20 to September 16, 1934. The time between June 20 - August 28 the group spent on Spitsbergen's Torell Land. The outcome: an area of app. 300 square kilometres of previously undiscovered land was marked by triangular system, covered by photogrammetric photos and surveyed. Geological research covered the land of app. 500 square kilometres and the group collected geological specimens of app. 800 kg in weight. On the basis of their research, two maps (at a scale of 1:50 000 and 1:200 000) were published. The participants collected also botanical and zoological material. Meteorological observations were carried out at the base over Van Keulen fjord throughout the whole expedition. Different objects on Torell Land were named by the expedition, their names referring largely to Poland (Annex I). Approximately 200 photographs and a film were shot by the expedition. Apart from scientific research, the participants published also diaries of the expedition.

[THE SCIENTIFIC LEGACY OF JEAN EMMANUEL GILIBERT IN POLAND (COPIES OF HIS WORKS; THEIR RECEPTION)]. / NAUKOWA SPUSCIZNA JEANA EMMANUELA GILIBERTA W POLSCE (EGZEMPLARZE DZIEL, RECEPCJA).

In order to locate copies of the works of Jean Emmanuel Gilibert (1741-1814) located in Poland, 54 libraries were selected for inquiry, chosen on the basis of their history or of the nature or size of their collections. So far, 27 libraries have responded to the inquiry. There are works of J.E. Gilibert stored in 14 of them (Table 1). To date, 102 copies of different editions catalogued under Gilibert's name have been recorded in libraries in Poland. These books were placed in these libraries in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mainly as part of donations from private libraries. In Poland, the reception of the botanical works of J.E. Gilibert changed over time. Initially they were accepted uncritically (Stanislaw Bonifacy Jundzill, Józef Jundzill). Over time, and with the increase in floristic data subsequent to the publication of Gilibert's works, his treatises were cited less frequently. As early as the second half of the nineteenth century, Polish botanists mentioned them only occasionally. More accurate works, containing newer taxonomical considerations of species, effectively supplanted the works of Gilibert in scientific circulation. It is worth noting that for contemporary plant taxonomy, the botanical works of Gilibert are of no scientific value. Four of them (Flora lituanica inchoata, Exercitium botanicum, Caroli Linnaei botanicorum principis, Exercitia phytologica) are listed in Appendix V, 'Opera Utique Oppressa', of the 2006 Vienna Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Names appearing in these works in the rankings specified at the end of each listing (species and intraspecific taxa) are not accepted as valid.

Wild edible plants of Belarus: from Rostafinski's questionnaire of 1883 to the present.

BACKGROUND: Belarus is an Eastern European country, which has been little studied ethnobotanically. The aim of the study was to compare largely unpublished 19th century sources with more contemporary data on the use of wild food plants. METHODS: The information on 19th century uses is based on twelve, mainly unpublished, responses to Józef Rostafinski's questionnaire from 1883, and the newly discovered materials of the ethnographer Michal Federowski, who structured his data according to Rostafinski's questionnaire and documented it with voucher specimens. Rostafinski's questionnaire was concerned mainly with Polish territories, but for historical reasons this also encompassed a large part of Belarus, and we analyzed only the twelve responses (out of the few hundred Rostafinski obtained), which concerned the present Belarus. These data were compared with a few 20th century ethnographic sources, and our own 40 interviews and questionnaires from Belarus. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: 58 taxa of wild food plants used in the 19th century were identified. Some of them are still used in modern Belarus, others are probably completely forgotten. In the 19th century several species of wild greens were widely used for making soups. Apart from Rumex, other wild greens are now either forgotten or rarely used. The list of species used in the 20th and 21st century encompasses 67 taxa. Nearly half of them were mentioned by Rostafinski's respondents. The list of fruit species has not changed much, although in the 19th century fruits were mainly eaten raw, or with dairy or floury dishes, and now apart from being eaten raw, they are incorporated in sweet dishes like jams or cakes. Modern comparative data also contain several alien species, some of which have escaped from cultivation and are gathered from a semi-wild state, as well as children's snacks, which were probably collected in the 19th century but were not recorded back then. CONCLUSION: The responses to Rostafinski from 1883 present extremely valuable historical material as the use of wild food plants in Belarus has since undergone drastic changes, similar to those, which have taken place in other Eastern European countries.

[History of Polish botanical and mycological researches on sheets of land of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic in the years 1977-2009]. / Dzieje polskich badan botanicznych i mykologicznych mykologicznych ladowych obszarów Antarktyki i subantarktyki.

The work includes a description of the period from the moment of setting up Polish Polar Station on King George Island (1977) to the end of International Polar Year IV in 2009. Researches on flower plants focused, among others, on plants' morphology, morphological composition of the pollen and anatomical ultra-structure of the leaves. There were also carried out biochemical and other searches for the internal mutability. Within physiological studies one concentrated on the problem of reaction to temperature stress. Biological researches focused mainly on solving taxonomic and bio-geographic problems. Finally, were published several monographs and, among others, the first in history complete description of moss' flora of the whole of Antarctic (2008). Research works over algae included also such issues as floristics, bio-geography, taxonomy and ecology (for instance, the rookery's impact on distribution of algae, or the influence of inanimate factors on dynamics of condensing the Diatoma in different water and soil-bound tanks). Up till now, within mycological investigations has been identified a variety of lichen fungi that for the most part of Antarctic are a novelty. There were scientifically described new for science genera and species of Western Antarctic. Lichenological studies were made in the field of taxonomy, geography, lichenometry, biochemistry of lichens, lichenoindication, ecophysiology and from the point of analysis of base metals' content. There were also described new for science species. Since 1991, were published the results of searches for the base metals' content and vestigial chemical elements in lichens' thallus. Ecophysiological researches concerned both micro-climatic conditions' impact on primary production and lichens' adaptation to a very cold climate. One discovered a mechanism of two-phase hydratization/dehydratization of lichens' thallus. On the ground of palaeobotanical analyzes was reconstructed a development of flora in Western Antarctic from the late Cretaceous period to the beginning of Melville's continental glaciation. One singled out three floristic stages and were reconstructed their peculiarities in the development of flora. There was also described an early Jurassic flora of Hope Bay (Pólwysep Antarktyczny - Antarctic Peninsula) that turned out to be the richest Jurassic flora in the world. From that point of view were analyzed new species of mineral plants. Ecological researches concentrated on the problems connected with several issues and, among others, with the processes of settlement and succession, distribution and ecology of land biotopes, changes in their spatial structure, and state of biotopes' biological mass. The second group of issues concerned the anthropogenous impacts. One also analyzed early stages of synanthropization of flora. Another important issue was recognizing an extent of the pollution of the environment, particularly with base metals. In the years 1977-2009 were published, at least, 426 notes, articles and monographs that were a result of botanical and mycological researches on sheets of land of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic.

Lysenko affair and Polish botany.

This article describes the slight impact of Lysenkoism upon Polish botany. I begin with an account of the development of plant genetics in Poland, as well as the attitude of scientists and the Polish intelligentsia toward Marxist philosophy prior to the World War II. Next I provide a short history of the introduction and demise of Lysenkoism in Polish science, with a focus on events in botany, in context with key events in Polish science from 1939 to 1958. The article outlines the little effects of Lysenkoism upon botanists and their research, as well as how botanists for the most part rejected what was often termed the "new biology." My paper shows that though Lysenko's theories received political support, and were actively promoted by a small circle of scientists and Communist party activists, they were never accepted by most botanists. Once the political climate in Poland altered after the events of 1956, Lysenko's theories were immediately abandoned.

[Lysenkoism in Polish botany]. / Lysenkizm w botanice polskiej.

Lysenkoism in Poland was never an autonomous phenomenon. The whole array of reasons for which it appeared in Polish science would require a separate study--here it only needs to be pointed out that the major reasons included terror on the part of the security service, lawlessness, the ubiquitous atmosphere of intimidation and terror, censorship, the diminishing sphere of civil liberties, political show trials, propaganda and denunciations. An important role in facilitating the introduction of Lysenkoism was played also by the reorganization of science after World War Two, the isolation of Polish science from science in the West, as well as the damage it had suffered during the war. At first, Lysenkoism was promoted in Poland by a small group of enthusiastic and uncritical proponents. A overview of the events connected with the ten years of Lysenkoism in Poland (end of 1948--beginning of 1958) shows a two-tier picture of how the 'idea' was propagated. The first tier consisted in the activities of the Association of Marxist Naturalists [Kolo Przyrodników-Marksistów], which it engaged in since the end of 1948. The Association was later transformed into a Union of Marxist Naturalists, and this in turn merged, in 1952, with the Copernican Society of Polish Naturalists [Polskie Towarzystwo Przyrodników im. Kopernika]. It was that society which promoted Lysenkoism longest, until the end of 1956. The propaganda and training activities of the circle and the society prepared ground for analogous activities of the newly formed Polish Academy of Science (PAN), which--since its very establishment in 1952--engaged in promoting Lysenkoism through its Second Division. These activities were aimed at naturalists, initially at those who were prominent scientists (eg. the conference at Kuznice, 1950/1951), and then at those who were only starting their academic career (including national courses in new biology at Dziwnów, 1952, or Kortowo, 1953 and 1955). The end to promoting Lysenkoism by PAN came with the Sixth General Assembly of its members on June 11-12, 1956. The second tier of propagating Lysenkoism consisted in activities aimed at the general public, including the teaching of creative Darwinism (obligatory for pupils of various levels of education), in the school years 1949/50-1956/57. There were few botanists who published studies in Lysenkoism: only 55 persons did so. Among them, there were only a few botanists who could boast of significant previous scientific achievements--they included Stefan Bialobok (1909-1992), Wladyslaw Kunicki-Goldfinger (1916-1995), Edmund Malinowski (1885-1979), Konstanty Moldenhawer (1889-1962), Józef Motyka (1900-1984), Szczepan Pieniazek. A majority of the authors of publication in Lysenkoism were young scientists or people who did publish anything later on. Basing on the available bibliographies, it is possible to ascertain that there were ca. 140 Lysenkoist botanical publications (out of the total of 3410), i.e. 4.1% (fig. 1) of all the botanist publications in Poland in that period. Their number in the years 1949-1953 was higher than in the next period, and oscillated between 15 and 24 publications annually (fig. 2). The percentage of Lysenkoist studies among all publications in botany published each year was highest in 1949 (11.5%), and decreased systematically in the following years (fig. 3). Lysenkoism was a marginal phenomenon in Polish botany. Among the Lysenkoist publications, most summarized papers delivered at successive conferences, or consisted in reprints of Soviet studies. A significant group was made up of publications popularizing the principles and achievements of Lysenkoism (on the basis of Soviet publications). There were relatively studies presenting the results of research conducted in Poland on the basis of Lysenko's theory. Botanists who remember those times recollect that topics connected with Michurinian-Lysenkoist biology were avoided. It is symptomatic that not a single Lysenkoist study was published in Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae, the scientific journal of the Polish Botanical Society (out of the total of 359 articles published in the years 1948-1958). The attitudes of Polish botanists towards Lysenkoism varied. A great majority, i.e. ca. 96% of all botanists, dealt with research topics that did not require direct references to Lysenkoism and did not publish any Lysenkoist studies. A few botanists did publish studies based on the tenets of Lysenkoism. Some did so in a sincere belief in the validity of the theory (e.g. Aniela Makarewicz (1905-1990) or Szczepan Pieniazek). A number of botanists, who did not want to be exposed to harassment, avoided explicit endorsements of the theory or, whenever possible, used the "shield" of Soviet science. This consisted in using quotations from the classics of Marxism and Lysenkoism , both in papers delivered at conferences and in written publications. These references were a kind of levy paid in order to put vigilance of the censorship to sleep or to avoid non-substantive criticism. Other botanists (very few in number) took a hostile stand on Lysenkoism, which was a thing that required courage. The consequences for a university professor included being deprived of one's chair and being banned from publishing (this was, for instance, the case Prof. Waclaw Gajewski (1911-1997)). The role of censorship should not be underestimated--it may be due to its activities that only isolated studies engaging in polemic with Lysenkoism, or trying to show the fallaciousness of its tenets, appeared in the first half of the 1950s. The content of publications was also affected by editors and editorial boards: as a result of their intervention, authors were forced to include obligatory quotations from the classics of Marxism and Lysenkoism in their articles. Since the current paper is based predominantly on publications, the strength of the opposition to Lysenkoism may be undervalued. It is well-known, not only from oral testimony, that the times of Lysenkoism were a terrible period in Polish botany, with all kinds of pressures exerted on botanists who did not adopt it. Fortunately, no Polish botanists lost their lives. The Lysenkoist period in Polish botany retarded the development of many of its branches. In the last fifty years many of the setbacks have been made up for, but it is in the biological education of the general public that Lysenkoism has had a more serious effect. Several generations of young people failed to be introduced to genetics, or at least its foundations, at any level of schooling. Instead they were inculcated with the erroneous belief of man's limitless possibilities in transforming nature, including the view that species can be shaped freely in line with economic needs. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)