Fries was born at
Femsjö (
Hylte Municipality),
Småland, the son of the pastor there. He attended school in
Växjö. He acquired an extensive knowledge of flowering plants from his father. In 1811 Fries entered
Lund University He obtained his doctorate in 1814. In the same year he was appointed an associate professorship in
botany. Fries edited several
exsiccata series, the first starting in 1818 under the title
Lichenes Sveciae exsiccati, curante Elia Fries and the last together with
Franz Joseph Lagger under the title
Hieracia europaea exsiccata. He was elected a member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and in 1824, became a full
professor. In 1834 he became
Borgström professor That year he was also appointed director of the
Uppsala University Botanical Garden. In 1853, he became
rector of the University. Fries most important works were the three-volume
Systema mycologicum (1821–1832),
Elenchus fungorum (1828), the two-volume
Monographia hymenomycetum Sueciae (1857 and 1863) and
Hymenomycetes Europaei (1874). Fries is considered to be, after
Christian Hendrik Persoon, a founding father of the modern
taxonomy of
mushrooms. His taxonomy of mushrooms was influenced by
Goethe and the
German romantics. He utilized
spore color and arrangement of the
hymenophore (pores, gills, teeth etc.) as major taxonomic characteristics. He was one of the most prolific authors of new fungal species, having
formally described 3210 in his career. Fries died in
Uppsala on 8 February 1878. When he died,
The Times commented: "His very numerous works, especially on fungi and
lichens, give him a position as regards those groups of plants comparable only to that of
Linnaeus." Fries was succeeded in the Borgström professorship (from 1859 to 1876) by
Johan Erhard Areschoug, after whom
Theodor Magnus Fries, the son of Elias, held the chair (from 1877 to 1899). ==Publications==