Erast Parmasto

Erast Parmasto (28 October 1928 – 24 April 2012) was a noted Estonian mycologist, bioscientist and botanist and onetime director of the Estonian Institute of Zoology and Botany.

Parmasto was born in Nõmme. He became a member of the Estonian Institute of Zoology and Botany in 1950 and served as its director from 1985 to 1990. His establishment of a mushroom herbarium in 1950 has since seen recognition of 160,000 samples, 37,000 of which Parmasto himself collected.

Parmasto published more than 150 papers and 200 articles during his academic career and his works are commonly used in popular scientific and academic journals in Estonia. His expertise in the field of mycology has resulted in him being nicknamed "Seenevana", or the "grand old man of mushrooms".

He served as the president of the Estonian Naturalists' Society between 1973 and 1976 and was an honorary member of the society from 1988.

Erastia is a fungal genus in the family Polyporaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single European species Erastia salmonicolor. Erastia was circumscribed by Finnish mycologists Tuomo Niemelä and Juha Kinnunen in 2005 and also named in his honour.

Publications Some of Parmasto's more important publications include: D. S. Hibbett, M. Binder, J. F. Bischoff, M. Blackwell, P. F. Cannon, O. E. Eriksson, S. Huhndorf, T. James, P. M. Kirk, R. Lücking, H. T. Lumbsch, F. Lutzoni, P. B. Matheny, D. J. McLaughlin, M. J. Powell, S. Redhead, C. L. Schoch, J. W. Spatafora, J. A. Stalpers, R. Vilgalys, M. C. Aime, A. Aptroot, R. Bauer, D. Begerow, G. L. Benny, L. A. Castlebury, P. W. Crous, Y.-C. Dai, W. Gams, D. M. Geiser, G. W. Griffith, C. Gueidan, D. L. Hawksworth, G. Hestmark, K. Hosaka, R. A. Humber, K. D. Hyde, J. E. Ironside, U. Kõljalg, C. P. Kurtzman, K.-H. Larsson, R. Lichtwardt, J. Longcore, J. Miadlikowska, A. Miller, J.-M. Moncalvo, S. Mozley-Standridge, F. Oberwinkler, E. Parmasto, V. Reeb, J. D. Rogers, C. Roux, L. Ryvarden, J. P. Sampaio, A. Schüßler, J. Sugiyama, R. G. Thorn, L. Tibell, W. A. Untereiner, C. Walker, Z. Wang, A. Weir, M. Weiss, M. M. White, K. Winka, Y.-J. Yao and N. Zhang. A higher-level phylogenetic classification of the fungi. Mycological Research 111: 509-547, 2007 Distribution maps of Estonian fungi (3. osa) Eesti seente levikuatlas. Pore Fungi. Estonian Academy Publishers, 2004 Parmasto, E : Integrating molecular and morphological data in the systematics of fungi. - In: Randlane, T/Saag, A (eds.): Book of Abstracts of the 5th IAL Symposium. Lichens in Focus. Tartu University Press, 2004 Parmasto, E. Hymenochaetoid fungi (Basidiomycota) of North America. Mycotaxon, 79, 107–176, 2001 M.A.Bondartseva, E.Parmasto, M.V. Gorlenko. Определитель грибов России. Порядок Афиллофоровые. Вып. 2 СПб: Наука, 1998 (in Russian) Parmasto, E. Corticioid fungi: a cladistic study of a paraphyletic group. Canadian Journal of Botany, 73, 1995, (Suppl. 1) E.Parmasto, I.Parmasto, T.Möls. Variation of Basidiospores in the Hymenomycetes and Its Significance to Their Taxonomy. Bibliotheca Mycologica, Lubrecht & Cramer Ltd, 1987 Järva, L., Parmasto, E. Eesti seente koondnimestik. Tartu, 1980 (in Estonian) Parmasto, E. The Lachnocladiaceae of the Soviet Union. With a key to boreal species. Tartu, 1970