University of Strasbourg / e-ReColNat Infrastructure

The Strasbourg Herbarium gathers 500,000 specimens from all over the world. Created in 1884, as part of the "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität", it is composed by a General Herbarium of 150,000 specimens and an Alsace Herbarium of 50,000 specimens.

History :

The inventory of collectors and collections shows that over 2,500 collectors, and more than 600 collections, are presents in The Strasbourg Herbarium. Collects come from all over the world, with significant collections from central and southern Europe, Swiss, Italian, and Austrian Alps, countries of the Mediterranean basin, Middle East, and North America.

The Herbarium of the University of Strasbourg is the reference for the Alsace Flora. With more than 50,000 specimens, this collection gathers indigenous or grown plants observed in the region and its surroundings, since the late 19th century.

The General Herbarium gathers worldwide collections, with big European herbaria (Berlin, Budapest, Cambridge, Göteborg, Hambourg, Kiel, Munich, Stuttgart, VIenne, Wroclaw, etc.). Collects date back to the 19th century. It contains numerous types, that are currently being analyzed.

The cryptogams herbaria remind us that Strasbourg was a very active university on the study of bryophytes, lichens, algae, and fungi until the middle of the 20th century. Around 50 centuriae complete this inventory.

Significant specific collections are also present: The Mühlenbeck Herbarium from the first half of the 19th century, with specimens from South Africa; The Schlumberger Herbarium from Alsace and Vosges is dated around 1860; the H. de Boissieu Herbarium, plants of France, Alps, and southern Europe from the early 20th century; The Mantz Herbarium which covers all the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps region; the Engel Herbarium, with a recent collection of European orchids. The Herbarium receives each year multiple collections. In 2013-2014, the Herbarium received the A. Schneider from Northern Alsace (4,000 specimens), and several small herbaria by professors or students in either natural sciences, pharmaceutics, or medicine.

Current works center on the revision of the Alsace Herbarium; the inventory of collectors and collections of all the herbaria; on the revision of some specific taxonomic groups like Lycopodiaceae, Cornus, and Dianthus genera; and on the inventory of the R. Engel, G. Lapraz Herbarium etc.

Study groups participate to the herbarium’s life, with the revision of the regional collections of bryophytes, revision of fescues with fine leaves, and the study of the genera Cornus and Linaria.

The Herbarium organizes introductory training to master students on the study of the herbaria. These traineeships allow students to either study a specific genus in multiple collections (genera Tilia, Melandrium, Iris, Crataegus), or study the collection of 1 botanist in particular (Grauvogel Herbarium – Alsacien geologic and a Swiss herbarium of 1848). Each study is published either in a journal, or on the Herbarium’s webpage. The computerization of the herbaria begun in 1997. More than 80,000 specimens are now registered. A conversion on Sonnerat is still ongoing, as well as the digitization of new herbaria.

Contacts : for any further information

Gisèle Archipoff Director of the Herbarium of the Strasbourg University
archipoff@unistra.fr

Marion Martinez Collections Officer of the Strasbourg University Herbarium
marion.martinez@unistra.fr