To enlarge, please click on the pictures

Herbarium

A herbarium is a collection of pressed and dried plant specimens. In this way, plants can be conserved permanently, as long as no damage caused by humidity or insects occurs. Herbaria are archives and data sources for scientific studies. For example, the natural distribution ranges of extinct plant species can be reconstructed by means of old herbarium specimens. Furthermore, old localities can be checked with the help of details noted on the labels, in order to see, whether the species is still extant at that site. Finally, herbaria serve as base for the description and delimitation of plant species.

The Herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Stuttgart comprises altogether about 900 000 specimens. It includes:

  • Flowering plants : ca. 500 000
  • Ferns: ca. 80 000
  • Mosses and liverworts: ca. 127 000
  • Lichens: ca. 100 000
  • Fungi : ca. 100 000

It is a medium-sized herbarium. The largest herbaria in the world contain about 7 million (Kew near London) and 8 million (Paris) specimens respectively.

Like many other herbaria, ours is also of considerable age: the oldest specimens date back to the year 1743, when J.G. Gmelin and the horticulturist A.W. Martini from Tübingen travelled on behalf of the Russian Tsar through Siberia. Martini busily collected plant material and some of these more than 250 year old specimens came to the Royal Natural History Collection, which is the predecessor of our Museum today.

The present herbarium consists of some extensive old private collections like those of F. Hegelmaier, R. Gradmann, K. Bertsch, G. von Martens, A. Mayer, and K. Müller, who collected mostly in the Württemberg region, but also travelled more widely. Further valuable collections have been added more recently. In addition, voucher material from the scientific studies of the botanists currently working at the Department is also deposited in our herbarium. It is accessible for further studies or revision.

Reference:

  • Sebald, O. (1983): Alexander Wilhelm Martini (1702-1781), ein Begleiter J. G. Gmelins auf der Sibirien - Reise, und sein Herbarium. - Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde Serie A (Biologie) 368, 24 pp. Stuttgart.

The Floristic Mapping Project of Baden-Württemberg "Die Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Baden-Württembergs"

More than one third (36,2 %) of the 2100 plant species growing in Baden-Württemberg are listed in the Red Data Book, i.e. they are more or less threatened and require protection. However, you only can protect things that you know. This is why an inventory of the plant life of Baden-Württemberg has been drawn up by the Botany Department of the Natural History Museum of Stuttgart. This inventory was implemented in cooperation with the Museum at Karlsruhe by means of floristic mapping.

The base unit of this mapping is a quadrant, which is 1/4 of an Ordonance Survey map on 1 : 25 000 scale. One quadrant covers an area of about 5.5 x 6.5 km. Baden-Württemberg consists of about 1100 quadrants. In each of them all plant species have been recorded. This is a time-consuming task and it is therefore not surprising that more than 25 years of work by the botanists of the Museums, together with 200 volunteers, have been needed to complete this mapping.

The results have been summarized in the eight volumes of the "Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Baden-Württembergs". This publication comprises distribution maps, the exact delimitation and description of each species, details of distribution, distribution maps, ecology and type of threat, and illustrations, mostly photos. This inventory has served as a basis for the recently revised and published Red Data Book of Baden-Württemberg and for a species protection programme.

During the floristic mapping a data base with more than one million data sets has been created. It is run and maintained at the Stuttgart Natural History Museum.

The flora is subject to constant change: new species immigrate, others retreat or become extinct. Floristic mapping must therefore be constantly updated. The aim is a permanently maintained and up-to-date data base of the flora of Baden-Württemberg, which could serve as a basis for a supplement volume or future mapping.

References:

  • Sebald, O., S. Seybold & G: Philippi (1990-1992): Die Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Baden-Württembergs Vol. 1 - 4. Ulmer-Verlag, Stuttgart.
  • Sebald, O., S. Seybold, G: Philippi & A. Wörz (1996-1998): Die Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Baden-Württembergs Vol. 5 - 8. Ulmer-Verlag, Stuttgart.
  • Breunig, T. & S. Demuth (1999): Rote Liste der Farn- und Samenpflanzen Baden-Württembergs. Fachdienst Naturschutz. Naturschutz-Praxis, Artenschutz 2, 161 pp. Karlsruhe.