Oluna Ceska

Oldriska (Oluna) Ceska (1938-2022)

Oluna was born in Prague on July 1, 1938, and died on November 9, 2022, in Victoria, BC. She grew up near Beroun, an area with rich nature, fossils and geology. She was always interested in drawing and painting, and she remembered that one of her first preschool drawings was a garden gnome having a pee.

After finishing high school, she was to choose between Art and Science and decided to study biology, namely mycology, at Charles University in Prague. There she met her future husband, Adolf, with whom she immigrated to Victoria, BC, in 1969.

In Canada, she worked as a lab assistant and research associate at the UVIC Biological Department with Dr. Derek Styles and Dr. Michael Ashwood-Smith. The top of her UVIC career was discovering and describing a previously unknown natural chemical compound, Coriandrin, in cilantro. After her UVIC supervisors retired, Oluna freelanced, surveying botanically interesting areas in BC, Yukon, and Oregon.

Towards the end of the 1990s, Oluna returned to mycology and participated in long-term mushroom studies on Long Beach, Haida Gwaii and southern Vancouver Island.

She was a founding member of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society (SVIMS), where she channelled all the energy previously given to the Victoria Natural History Society and Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society.

In 2004, Oluna started a long-term mushroom survey of Observatory Hill. After almost 15 years and 40-50 visits yearly, she found about 1,450 fungal species in an area of about 75 hectares. COVID-19 and an aggressive form of small-cell carcinoma ended her unique research project.

Her collections are well-documented with her drawings and are deposited in the UBC herbarium. Mycological experts described new species based on her collections and named Cortinarius ceskarum and Inocybe ceskae (see the photo) in her honour.

Several years ago, Oluna's friends started a UBC student award in her and Adolf's names to support UBC mycological studies. Please, help the UBC students by contributing to the Oluna and Adolf Ceska Mycology Award https://give.ubc.ca/ceska-award to continue Oluna's legacy.

Thanks to the BC Cancer healthcare team, especially Dr. J. Caon and Dr. E. Brooks, for caring for Oluna in her last 8 months.