Unit 1 Lesson 2- .introduction to herbarium

This is the second lesson in the Unit 1 of BSc Botany Paper 3.

follow my youtube video for further explanation.

https://youtu.be/9mqxwcSeg4s

1. HERBARIUM Smiling Garden of everlasting flowers Introduction, History and significance Dr. Sujana Papani Taxonomic Resources

2. Road map   Introduction Brief History Significance of Herbarium Kinds of Herbaria Herbaria of the world Important herbaria in India

3. Herbarium Herbarium is a store house/ Collection of dried and pressed plant specimens collected from different places, arranged according to some known system of classification, to facilitate identification, nomenclature and preservation of the records .

4. Herbarium - Library of biological information Herbaria is a Library of biological information, consist of specimens that have been collected over broad geographic ranges and over many years. Multiple samples of individual species collected from different habitats are typically preserved so that variation among individuals can be documented, and related to ecological and evolutionary factors

5. Herbarium - preserved biological information Collected individual plant specimens are dried by taking care of all essential parts for identification and pasted on a well-defined sheet This individual sheet is also called as Herbarium (Plural: Herbaria).

6. Herbarium - preserved biological information The specimens may be whole plants (herbs, grasses) or plant parts, which are properly dried and pressed.

7. Herbarium - preserved biological information They are kept in pigeon holes of steel or wooden cupboards away from direct sunlight, Temperature levels should be constant between 18o C -22oC with a humidity level between 45-55%

8. Herbarium - preserved biological information Some plants, which are either succulents are unsuitable for pressing and drying techniques , are preserved in specimen bottles using suitable liquid preservatives such as Formaldehyde (2-5%) or F.A.A. solution (Formalin-Acetone-Alcohol in 5:5:90 ratio ).

9. Herbarium - preserved biological information Gymnosperm cones and palm fronds are stored dry in labelled glass boxes. Small specimens, such as seeds, floral parts, bark, roots mosses, ferns etc. are air dried and packed in small paper/polythene envelopes .

10. Herbarium - preserved biological information Thus, herbarium is depository of a great filing system for information about plants Primarily in the form of actual specimens and Secondarily in the form of recorded notes on labels attached on the sheets and photographs. “ Herbarium is a vast reservoir of plants”

11.   Brief History

12. History of Herbarium The art of herbarium was initiated by an Italian taxonomist from Bologna, Italy, named Luca Ghini (1490-1556). He was a professor of medicine and botany at the University of Pisa during the 16th century, also credited for developing Pisa Botanical Garden at Italy in 1544. He had collection of about 300 specimens in 1551. But unfortunately, not much is currently known about his herbarium, may be lost.

13. History of Herbarium His student. Gherards Cibo , continued this art, and his herbarium is still preserved in Rome In the middle years of the sixteenth century, three Ghini students, namely Aldrovandi and Cesalpino from Italy and Turner from England, also made their own herbaria and disseminated this art throughout the Europe. “ En Tibi ” was found to be first Herbarium, which moved many countries over centuries and at present it preserved in Netherlands.

14. Historical timeline of 16th-century Italian herbaria . Stefanaki A, Porck H, Grimaldi IM, Thurn N, Pugliano V, et al. (2019) Breaking the silence of the 500-year-old smiling garden of everlasting flowers: The En Tibi book herbarium. PLOS ONE 14(6): e0217779. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217779 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217779 Historical timeline of 16th-century Italian herbaria

15. History of Herbarium In the 16th century Herbarium was called as Hortus Siccus (dry garden) or Hortus Hiemalis (winter garden); The word Herbarium (plural herbaria) was however, first applied by Pitton de Tournefort , in the book “Elements de la Botanique ”. It was the famous Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus who advised readers of his  Philosophia Botanica  in 1751 to mount just one specimen per sheet and refrain from binding the sheets together.

16.   Functions

17. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium A herbarium serves as an invaluable conservatory of dried plant material, collected from different parts of the world. Thus, at one place they provide, basic material for study of flora and vegetation of different places or regions Since Herbarium is a permanent record of flora of different regions , it can serve as a physical evidence of the vegetation of a region , which may be destroyed due to some natural catastrophes .

18. The specimens in the herbarium carry valuable data on their labels such as, habitat, habit, local names, colour of flowers or other characters of the plant, native uses of the plant, abundance or frequency of the species, associated plants, etc. This data provides valuable material for proper morphological description, range of variation, distribution and utilization of a similar plant collected from a different region. Thus, a herbarium provide data for botanical, ethno-botanical and phytogeographical studies . Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium

19. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium It serves as a source for collection of biodiversity. Most estimates on global biodiversity today are based on herbarium collection only. It serves as an aid in teaching botany to students, as it helps a teacher to show a plant specimen which may not be available fresh during the course. It also helps students to identify local plants collected by them.

20. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium Herbaria are utilized as reference centres for identification of plants by botanists doing research work in taxonomy, pharmacology, ecology, agriculture etc. Voucher specimens preserved in various herbaria provide an index of specimens on which studies on chromosomes, phytochemistry and palynology etc have been undertaken. Preserved specimens of herbaria have the collection of taxa from far and wide range involving all world species, serves the requirement of biosystematics research .

21. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium The herbaria provide important data on actual places of occurrence, time of flowering and fruiting, associated species and other data for researches in embryology, cytology and ecology. The herbaria have proved to be very valuable source of information for ethno-botanical researches as many native uses of plants are recorded on the herbarium sheets. List of endangered specimens of any region can be prepared only by verifying herbarium specimens

22. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium Monographs of genera or families are prepared by studying the herbarium specimens. The classification of world flora is flora is based on herbarium material and associated literature. Herbaria preserve the national plant wealth and provide scientific information to the public regarding the plants. Big herbaria provide training facilities to young students in herbarium practices.

23. KINDS OF HERBARIUM 1. Botanical Survey of India : The herbaria contain all collections from any part of the world. 2. Pharma institutions : The herbaria contain medicinal flora utilized in drug extraction. 3. Universities and colleges : Herbarium of flora included in the syllabus and research. 4. Agricultural Universities : The herbaria of crop plants and weeds of cultivated fields. Depending upon the interest of the organization or institution, the contents of holding and the labels and notes on the sheets in a herbarium vary accordingly.

24. Important Herbarium of the world The first herbarium was found in the University of Padua, Italy, in 1545. Systematic development of herbaria started during 18 th century with the efforts of Linnaeus in Sweden and Roxburgh in India. According to Index Herbarium of Holmgreen et al (1981), there are about 1600 recognized herbaria in the world, excluding a large number of smaller unrecorded herbaria of various universities, colleges, pharmacies, etc. Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis, USA) publishes a valuable monthly newsletter entitled “Herbarium News” covering the different herbaria in the world. The total number of herbarium specimens reported from different institutions of the world was more than 250 million specimens.

25. Important Herbarium of the world 1 . Royal Botanical Garden, Kew, England 2. Museum of Natural History, Paris, France 3. Komarov Botanical Institute, Leningrad, Russia 4. Conservatory and Botanical Garden, Geneva 5. Missouri Botanical Gardens, Saint Louis, USA 6. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, USA 7. British Museum of Natural History, London, UK 8. Gary Herbarium, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA 9. Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden 10. National herbarium, Netherlands 11. University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden 12. University of California, Berkeley, USA 13. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India

26. Important Major Herbarium of India

27. Important Minor Herbarium of India

28. Next session: Herbarium techniques