1458 TAXON 60 (5) • October 2011: 1458–1463 Doweld • Dates of publication of Scripta Botanica FIRST RUSSIAN BOTANICAL JOURNAL The first Russian scientific botanical journal, Scripta Bo- tanica [Ботаническiя записки], was founded in 1886 by two eminent Russian botanists, Andrey N. Beketov (1825–1902; Fig. 1) and Christophor Ya. Gobi (1847–1919; Fig. 2), work- ing at the Botanical Gardens of St.-Petersburg Imperial Uni- versity. The journal was the last endeavor of Beketov in his series of his reorganization projects within the Russian sci- ence community such as the publication of the first Russian botanical textbook (1862–1874), the inauguration of the first university for women in Russia, and numerous other events (Stcherbakova, 1958). The journal was intended to be a regular serial publication in Russian with a wide scope of botanical disciplines. Beketov has been considered a “father of Russian botanists”; his students included many famous botanists such as K.A. Timiriazev, V.L. Komarov, N.I. Kuznetzov, A.N. Kras- nov, G.I. Tanfiliev, A.F. Batalin, and others. Beketov’s conflict with the Imperial Minister of Education, his protection of the students’ social and revolutionary movement and his criticism of the domination of German botanists in Imperial botanical institutions, led to his resignation as Rector of the Imperial St.-Petersburg University and the Chair of Botany in 1888. His authority was not strong enough to withstand the pres- sures from the Imperial Ministry of Education and numerous low-rank officials who triumphed over his resignation. Soon afterwards, he lost his aspiration to develop the new journal into a regular publication. The content of the journal narrowed to cryptogamic topics, reviews and a bibliography of Russian contemporary botanical literature were abandoned, and Beke- tov’s name soon disappeared from the title page of the journal (Stcherbakova, 1958). Gobi continued to solely edit and publish the journal (Henckel, 1876) but Scripta Botanica never became a regu- lar botanical journal and was transformed into an irregularly published serial in Russian. The journal appeared until 1914 when the World War I broke up and military censorship de- layed permission to publish. The final, 30th volume was the most important one of the serial, containing Gobi’s new sys- tem of plants with taxonomic and systematic novelties and re- arrangements which later significantly influenced the Russian school of phylogenetic botany (N. Kuznetzov, A. Grossheim, B. Kozo-Poljansky, A. Takhtajan, etc.). Numerous new plant species and genera (some of which are listed in Nomina Conservanda lists of the ICBN, e.g., Chlo- romonas Gobi) have been published in the journal, as well as taxonomic and floristic treatments of regions of the former Russian Empire in Central Asia, the Caucasus, Siberia and the Far East, Gaidukov’s Literature Sources to the Russian Flora of Algae (1901) and the classification of diatoms by Meresch- kowsky (1903). PUBLICATION DATES The exact publication dates of the issues of Scripta Botan- ica were not fixed by publisher. In the absence of a statement of the publisher about the publication date and due to the irregular appearance of the issues, the obligatory state registration dates of all newly published books and journals, as required by the Press Statute (Law) of the Russian Empire (Waldenberg, 1911: 46), are treated as the dates of effective publication in accor - dance with Art. 29.1 of the ICBN (i.e., when the journal issue is available and freely distributed to anyone except a printing house and publisher/editor). Since the journal was printed in St.-Petersburg, first by V. Demakov Printing House (1886–1900) and later by R.G. Schröder (1901–1916), typography registration data have been extracted mostly from the book of registration records of newly published editions of the Main Commit- tee for Press of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for 1886–1906 (regularly published in governmental newspaper Правительственный вѣстникъ/Pravitel’stvennyj Vestnik in 1886–1902), and the only available registration book of uncensored editions of St.-Petersburg Committee for Press for 1909 and 1916 (The Russian State Historical Archive, St.- Petersburg; Fund 777, Reg. 27, Folders 540 and 545). Due to fragmentary preservation of censor and registration records, the remaining publication dates, in case of their absence in the archives, were taken from the official published records of the Main Committee for Press (presented in Knizhnaja Letopis’ for 1910 and 1913). Dates of publication of Scripta Botanica [ Ботаническiя записки ] Alexander B. Doweld National Institute of Carpology (Gaertnerian Institution), 21 Konenkowa Street, 127560 Moscow, Russian Federation; nicar-sekretariat@yandex.ru Abstract Exact publication dates are provided for the first time for Scripta Botanica [Ботаническiя записки], the first Russian scientific botanical journal which appeared from 1886 to 1916. Keywords Andrey N. Beketov; botanical periodicals; Christophor Ya. Gobi; history of publication; St.-Petersburg Imperial University Botanical Garden; taxonomic botanical literature BOTANICAL HISTORY