Ivan Vladimirovich Palibin (1872–1949). Friend and assistant of Transbaikal naturalists

The article presents two little-known facts from the biography of the outstanding botanist Ivan V. Palibin: his entry, self-taught, into the milieu of professional botanists and his long-term co-operation with the Troitskosavsk-Kyakhta Branch (TKB) of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (IRGS). In both cases, the driving motive behind his actions was a selfless love of botany and an early interest in the flora of the East Asian region, be it Transbaikalia, the Russian Far East, or northern Mongolia and Korea. The primary sources for the work were documents from St. Petersburg and Moscow archives and materials from the Proceedings of the TKB. He worked on a pro bono basis in the Herbarium of the Moscow University and the Herbarium of the Imperial Botanical Garden in St. Petersburg. In 1898 he became a member of the IRGS, which sent him to eastern Mongolia in 1899 for geographical and natural history research. During the trip the scientist established scientific contacts with the leadership of the Troitskosavsk-Kyakhta branch of the IRGS. At the request of the chairman of the department Y.D. Talko-Gryntsevich, Palibin identified plant species collected by local collectors and assisted in the preparation for publication of the department's scientific papers.