Ödön Szatala

Ödön Szatala (5 February 1889 – 27 June 1958) was a Hungarian lichenologist and botanist. He became one of the most prolific authors of lichen names in the 20th century, despite pursuing lichenology largely outside formal academic employment for most of his career. A catalogue by Klára Verseghy credited him with 72 new lichen species, 26 varieties and 71 forms, within a total of 583 new lichen names that also included new combinations and replacement names. He worked mainly on the lichen floras of Hungary, the Balkans, Anatolia, the Aegean region, Iran and other parts of western Asia, and also treated material from North Africa, New Guinea and elsewhere.

Verseghy described Szatala as an exceptionally active systematic worker whose publications, series such as Lichenes Hungariae and numerous regional floras, were intended as steps towards an unfinished lichen flora of the Carpathian Basin. Later typification and revision work has shown that many of his taxa continue to be relevant, although several required lectotypification or taxonomic reassessment.