Józef Motyka

Józef Motyka (23 March 1900 – 6 July 1984) was a Polish botanist and lichenologist. He obtained his PhD in 1925 at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow for his studies on the ecology of saxicolous lichens (growing on or living among rocks) in Europe. Afterwards, he spent several years researching the large lichen genus Usnea, culminating in the publication of a two-volume monograph during 1936–38. During the Second World War he was employed in the Botanical Garden in Lwow. In 1944 he returned to his birthplace, Kąclowa, and began teaching at the Gymnasium in nearby Grybów. A year later Motyka was appointed as Director of the Plant Geography and Systematics department at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, and soon after became an Associate Professor. For the next decade he worked largely on the distribution and ecology of vascular plants.

Returning to work on lichens in the mid-1950s, Motyka studied Poland's lichen flora and published papers on the families Parmeliaceae, Cladoniaceae, Acarosporaceae, Umbilicariaceae, and Thelocarpaceae. He became a full Professor in 1960. He eventually published a total of four textbooks, six monographs, 54 papers, and two general-audience books. Motyka was awarded the Polonia Restituta and Golden Cross of Merit for his academic work.

Eponymous species

Several lichens have been named in honor of Józef Motyka:

• Alectoria motykae D.Hawksw.
• Alectoria motykana Bystrek
• Ramalina motykana Bystrek
• Usnea motykae Räsänen
• Usnea motykana Bystrek & Wójciak