Lidiya Aleksandrovna Lebedeva, an outstanding mycologist and plant pathologist. She was born in the village Laptevo (Vesyegonky region, Tver province/now Kalinin region, Russia) on 11 March 1871. In 1908 she graduated from the Lesgaft Higher Naturalistic Courses, and in 1912 - Sebutov Higher Agricultural Courses. L.A. Lebedeva was one of V.L. Komarov's progeny. In 1910, still studying at the Courses, L.A. Lebedeva was invited to the Central Phytopathological Station of St Petersburg Botanical Garden (now the V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences - BIN), where she worked almost to the end of life (last years at the Department of Cryptogam Plants). Pluralistically, besides of BIN, L.A. Lebedeva worked at the Laboratory of A.A. Yachevsky, at the All-Union Institute of Plant Cultivation, at Leningrad Station of Plant Protection and in other institutions. She was professor assistant on phytopathology at Stebutov Agricultural Courses and also lectured at the Society of People's Universities. Her first scientific works had phytopathological inclination. Since 1920 L.A. Lebedeva began to study higher fungi basidial flora of the USSR (mainly Agaricales). L.A. Lebedeva investigated fungi flora and fungi resources of such territories of the USSR: Northern Caucasus (area of rivers Manycha, Kuma and Terek), Southern Caucasus (outskirts of Tbilisi, Lenkoran, Stepanokert etc.), Central Asia, Altai, Kola Peninsula and some others. L.A. Lebedeva defended her doctoral thesis "The significance of histological traits in the systematics of higher basidial fungi". Herbarium material, collected by L.A. Lebedeva, is stored at the Botanical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (BIN). L.A. Lebedeva studied in details the process of stocking up and processing of fungi at the local level, visiting numerous fungi-cooking stations and store-stations of the richest in fungi regions: Northern krai, Kola Peninsula, Kirov, Leningrad, Ivanovo and Kalinin regions, Belorussia, Siberia (forests along the rivers Ob, Katun, Chemalu), Central Asia (tugai forests of river Ili, lake Balkhash outskirts and others). L.A. Lebedeva worked up herbariums of fungi, collected by different persons in different regions of the former Soviet Union (Yakutia, Ussuriysky krai, Primorsky krai, Kamchatka, Western Siberia, the Crimea, the Caucasus etc). L.A. Lebedeva was the author of editions "Fungi. Stocking up and processing" (1937) and "Guide for identification of gill bearing mushrooms (Agaricales)" (1949), in which she presented numerous original coloured illustrations. Pictures are presented also in many other scientific works of L.A. Lebedeva, devoted to gill fungi, that significantly increased the cognitive value for readers. L.A. Lebedeva died in Leningrad on 18 November 1950. This page is a brief synopsis of an article about L.A. Lebedeva in a book published in 1952, P.61-63. Lists. Publications. Taxa. Kirk & Ansell form of name: Lebedeva.