Kraków Geobotanical School During 1859–2020: Main Achievements

Abstract

Kraków Geobotanical School is considered one of the oldest and longest-operating botanical schools in Europe; it was active from 1859 to 2020. The purpose of this article is to summarize the achievements of the school. We divided the history of the school into six periods: ( i ) the Formation period (1859–1903); ( ii ) the Romantic period (1903–1917), wherein long-term research projects were completed and with M. Raciborski considered as the first headmaster of the school; ( iii ) the Classical period (1917–1970), wherein new ideas and research techniques were developed with W. Szafer as the headmaster; ( iv ) the Duumvirate period (1971–1993), with J. Kornaś and A. Jasiewicz as the headmasters; ( v ) the Descendant schools period (1994–2010), wherein traditional (morphological) methods were utilized; and ( vi ) the Decline period (2011–2020). Each of these periods was characterized by the names of the headmasters or leaders, their roles, and their main achievements. We suppose that Kraków Geobotanical School, in its present structure, has finished its scientific activity, for which we present a few arguments. We have attached to the main text of the article, an extensive tables containing the topics of geobotanical research carried out in each of the six periods, along with publication samples. The most important scientific achievements of Kraków Geobotanical School are the following: several thousand publications, including monographs and syntheses of knowledge on Polish flora and vegetation; introduction of new disciplines in Poland (e.g., paleobotany, nature conservation, phytosociology, palynology, study on synanthropization); description of new plant and fungus taxa; and identification of syntaxonomic units in Poland and abroad.