Boris Pavlovich Vasil'kov was born in the village Nizovka, Lyskovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, Russia, on 26 January (10 February old calendar) 1906. After finishing secondary school in 1924 he worked as a rural teacher for 2 years. Then he studied in the Forestry Faculty of Kazan Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. There he took great interest in botany and simultaneously with study at the Institute he began to visit lectures and practical trainings at botanical laboratory of Kazan University headed by outstanding scientist - Professor A.Y. Goriagin. At that time Vasil'kov studied grass and top-soil vegetation of Raifsky Experimental Forestry near Kazan.

In 1930 B.P. Vasil'kov graduated from the Institute. A year later he got an external degree of Kazan University. Since 1931 B.P. Vasil'kov worked as botanist at Mariysky Scientific-Research Institute (MSRI) in Yoshkar-Ola. He studied vegetation, flora of Phanerogam and Cryptogam plants, plant raw materials of Mariyskaya Republic. In 1935 B.P. Vasil'kov was conferred the degree of the Candidate of Biological Sciences (without defence of dissertation).

B.P. Vasil'kov carried on investigations till 1941. Working up of the most part of materials took place at Kazan University, fungi were handed over to Botanical Institute (BIN) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Herbarium, collected together with L.N. Vasilyeva and included about 1000 species of vascular plants, 150 moss species, 119 lichen species, is stored in MSRI. Herbarium of fungi, mainly higher basidial, numbers 700 species and is stored in BIN.

In 1941-1942 B.P. Vasil'kov headed the Biological Station of Kazan State University. In 1942 he was taken in the staff of Komarov Botanical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which was partly evacuated in Kazan during the war. In 1944, B.P. Vasil'kov moved to Leningrad. He worked till the end of his life at the Department of Lower Plants of BIN USSR Acad. Sci. As a senior scientist B.P. Vasil'kov investigated systematics of pileate fungi (Agaricaceae). He wrote numerous scientific works, including monograph "Flora of pileate fungi of the USSR". He prepared Doctor's thesis "Edible fungi of Mariyskaya ASSR" - fundamental scientific work, which has not lost actuality till the present time. However he could not defend this dissertation due to circumstances beyond his control.

The first work of B.P. Vasil'kov devoted to fungi was "Experience of fungi study during geobotanical investigations" (1938). This work of relatively small volume played the important role in the development of new scientific trend - fungi ecology.

The sphere of scientific interests of B.P. Vasil'kov was very wide: flora, systematics, ecology, geography, problem of species in fungi, botanical nomenclature etc. In his works - "Edible and poisonous fungi of the medium belt of the European part of the USSR", "Methods of account of edible fungi in forests of the USSR"(1968) and others - B.P. Vasil'kov touched the problem of practical use of pileate fungi. The book "Edible and poisonous fungi of the medium belt of the European part of the USSR" for the first time was published in 1948. It at once attracted attention of specialists-mycologists. It was the second one of this kind of books in the USSR, besides "Illustrated guide for identification of fungi of middle Russia" by E.P. Sheremeteva (1908-1909). Many years after this book of B. P. Vasil'kov is in requisition of specialists and of large sections of public - lovers of "silent hinting".

B.P. Vasil'kov was known as mycologist also beyond the borders of the USSR. During many years he was a member of International Commission on fungi and lichen nomenclature.

Since 1950s, B.P. Vasil'kov began to study pileated fungi of the Soviet Arctic. At first he received materials from winterers and then worked by himself in this little-studied zone of the USSR. These materials underlay 8 papers. Unfortunately author did not have time to work up all materials.

B.P. Vasil'kov collected material in different regions of the USSR: in forsts of Mariyskaya ASSR, in Khibiny, in Ukraine, in the Caucasus, on the Baikal Lake, in Chukotka and others. The most part of this material is processed and stored in Herbarium of BIN Russian Academy of Sciences.

B.P. Vasil'kov is reputed as one of the authorities in agarics. Scientific youth, which studies this group of pileate fungi, got systematic training following B.P. Vasil'kov, and, it could be said that all today's agaricologists of the former Soviet Union are his progeny. In his article "Notion on milk mushroom in Russian literature and in common life" (1942) B.P. Vasil'kov came to the conclusion that true milk mushroom, as it interpreted in common life, is Lactarius resimus Fr., but not Lactarius piperatus (Scop.) Fr., as it was assumed in Russian mycological literature during 140 years.

B.P. Vasil'kov died on 30 June 1980.

This page is a short synopsis from: "Russian botanists (botanists of Russia - USSR). Biographic-Bibliographic Dictionary. Moscow: Moscow Society of Naturalists, 19....., P. 63......]; foreword written by editors E. L. Nezdoyminov and B. A. Tomilin (5 pp. of typewritten text) to the book of B. P. Vasil'kov " Eadible and poisonous fungi of the medium belt of the European part of the USSR "; obituary written by E. L. Nezdoyminov and B. A. Tomilin B. P. on the death of Vasil'kov (3 pp of typewritten text).

Lists. Publications. Taxa. Kirk & Ansell form of name: Vassilkov.