Grigory Nikolayevich Potanin was a Russian botanist, ethnographer, and natural historian. He was an explorer of Inner Asia and was the first to catalogue many of the area's native plants. Potanin was also an author and a political activist who aligned himself with the Siberian independence movement.

Tomsk is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: 556,478 (2021 Census); 524,669 (2010 Russian census); 487,838 (2002 Census); 501,963 (1989 Soviet census).