VasiliàMatveievitch Czernajew (; April 2, 1794 â March 6, 1871) was a Russian botanist responsible for collecting and describing at least five new genera and nine new species of fungi between 1822 and 1839. His name is written in the Cyrillic alphabet and has appeared in scientific documentation with a number of different romanizations, including V. Czernajev, Basil Matveievich Czerniaiev, B.M. Czernaiev, B.M. Czernjaëv, B.M. Czernjaëw, V.M. Tschernaiew, V. Tschernajef, and V. Czerniaier, although the official abbreviation seems to be consistently written as Czern.
Czernajew was a botany professor at the University of Kharkiv and the director of the botanical garden there.