Adalbert Ricken was a German Roman Catholic priest and mycologist who was a native of Fulda

Fulda

Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...

.

He attended the seminary for Roman Catholic priests in Fulda, and afterwards was a priest and chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 in several locations in the Fulda diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

. He made contributions in the classification of fungi, and was the author of a popular textbook on mushroom

Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

s called Vademecum für Pilzfreunde. Another noted work by Ricken was a 1915 publication involving fungi from the family Agaricaceae

Agaricaceae

The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and includes the genus Agaricus, as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. The genus contains 85 genera and 1340 species.-Genera:...

 that were native to central Europe, titled Die Blätterpilze (Agaricaceae) Deutschlands und der angrenzenden Länder, besonders Oesterreichs und der Schweiz.

The genus Rickenella

Rickenella

Rickenella is a genus of brightly colored bryophilous agarics in the Hymenochaetales that have an omphalinoid morphology. They inhabit mosses on mossy soils, peats, tree trunks and logs in temperate regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres...

 from the family Repetobasidiaceae

Repetobasidiaceae

Repetobasidiaceae is a phylogenetically defined family encompassing resupinate, poroid, stereoid, clavaroid, and agaricoid fungi, among other forms. Currently no description of the emended family circumscription is available....

is named in his honor. Since 1987 the "Adalbert Ricken Preis" is awarded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mykologie for research done by young amateur mycologists.