Polish lichenologist in St. Petersburg. Alexander A. Elenkin trained at the University of Warsaw (the city of his birth) until 1893, and later became an assistant in systematics and morphology there (1898). In 1899 he was named conservator and director of the Cryptogamic Department of the Imperial Botanic Garden of St. Petersburg and, when the garden merged with the Academy of Science's Botanical Museum to form the Botanical Institute in 1931, Elenkin became a member of staff in the most important botanical centre in Russia. He was also named professor and scientific specialist at the institute.

In terms of his research, Elenkin is considered the 'father of Russian lichenology', producing many important publications such as Lichens Transbaicalenses and Lichenes Spitzbergenses (both published in 1906), a two volume Cyanophyta of the USSR (1936) and an exsiccate Lichens florae rossiae et regionum confinium orientalium, which was produced in four fascicles between 1901 and 1910. Stafleu and Cowan state that he died in Kazan, while Shetler implies he was killed in St. Petersburg as a victim of the Second World War.

Sources:
G. Sayre, 1969, "Cryptogamae exsiccatae", Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 19(1): 121-122
S.G. Shetler, 1967, The Komarov Botanical Institute
F.A. Stafleu and R.S. Cowan, 1976-1998, Taxonomic Literature, 2nd edition (TL-2).