Brief history of mycology in Iran

Abstract

The history of mycology in Iran is presented in five periods. In the first period (until 1860) there is no sign of Iranian fungi in scientific literature. In the second period (1860–1941) the study of Iranian fungi was started by foreign mycologists who did not visit Iran but worked on plant material collected by botanists. In the third period (1941–1963) the study of Iranian fungi was started by a first generation of Iranian mycologists and also fungal plant pathology was started in Iran. A second generation of Iranian mycologists used pure culture technique in the fourth period (1963–2000). In this period mycology was taught separately from botany and plant pathology at universities, and MSc and PhD courses were initiated at some universities. In the fifth period (from 2000), a third generation of Iranian mycologists used molecular techniques to study Iranian fungi. An Asian Mycological Congress was held in Iran in 2001; the Iranian Mycological Society was founded in 2010; an MSc course of mycology was initiated at Esfahan University; the first Iranian Mycological Congress was held at Gilan University in 2013, and the first Iranian mycological journal (Mycologia Iranica) was launched.