ZANG Mu, well-known mycologist, born 28th December 1930; died 10th November 2011.

ZANG Mu, who passed away aged 81, was one of the greatest Chinese mycologists. Graduated from Soochow University, he worked at Nanjing Normal University as a teacher in 1954-1973. He moved to Kunming in 1973, and worked at Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He was a research fellow in both mycology and bryology. His major interests were systematics, ecology, and geography of fungi. He also studied mycorrhiza and its application in afforestation. He established the cryptogamic herbarium of KIB, and was the curator of the herbarium for a long time. He was vice president of the Mycological Society of China, and vice director of the Key Laboratory of Mycology and Lichenology of CAS. He published several monographic works and more than 150 papers on fungi in China, with emphasis on Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes. He received twice the second-class Award in National Scientific and Technological Progress (1993, 1995), a second class prize in China's State Natural Science Award (2003), and N. Hiratsuka Award 2003 of the Mycological Society of Japan. Besides mycology and bryology, he was also very interested in Chinese calligraphy and paintings, and collecting stamps.

He contributed his full energy for the development of mycology and relative research fields in China. We lost a great mycologist, and we express our grief mourning for the dead.