Swedish mycologist (1933-2009).
Kurt Egon Hjortstam (1933–2009) was a Swedish mycologist, specialising in the taxonomy of corticioid fungi. Kurt Hjortstam received no formal education beyond primary school, but as an adult developed an interest in the vascular plants of Sweden. During an excursion with the Gothenburg Botanical Society he met Prof. John Eriksson who encouraged him to take up the study of corticioid fungi (fungi forming effused fruit bodies on wood). This resulted in the publication of a joint paper in 1969 describing several new species. In 1971 he was engaged as an assistant at the University of Gothenburg t