Collection botany

    The lichen herbarium at Stuttgart

    The lichen herbarium consists of about 85.000 mostly accessible specimens. It contains c. 6800 species and 300 types. Since 1975, the lichen herbarium is curated by Volkmar Wirth. He collected about 35.000 specimens during several decades (Herbarium Wirth). The lichen herbarium comprises also an extensive collection of exsiccatae, many of which have been acquired by the museum on V. Wirth's initiative. The oldest specimens came from von Gottfried Gärtner (Flora der Wetterau, 1799-1802) und L. Reichenbach & C. Schubert (1822-1826), other exsicctae from A.Vezda (Tschechien), F.Arnold (Franken), Wartmann & Schenk (Schweiz), Jack, Leiner & Stizenberger (Baden-Württemberg), Rabenhorst (Europa).

    The old parts of the collection consist of the herbaria of F. Hegelmaier, F. Sautermeister, E. Schüz. Valuable specimens collected by G. Kurr came to the museum from the TH Stuttgart.

    From more recent times, the accession of the K. Bertsch herbarium with numerous specimens from M. Eggler and the collections of R. Türk is worth mentioning.

    The geographic focus of the collection is on Baden-Württemberg. The collection forms the base of the "Flechtenflora" (=lichen flora) and the publication "Die Flechten Baden-Württembergs" (= the lichens of Baden-Württemberg). Many material is extant from Central Europe, especially from siliceous mountains (Wirth), the Alps (Türk), the Mediterranean (P. L. Nimis), and the arid regions of South Africa and South America (Wirth).

    The Stuttgart bryophyte herbarium.

    The founder of the bryophyte herbarium was Georg von Martens (1788-1872). The original herbarium was named "Landesherbar". It consists of several parts and the oldest specimen of this collection dates back to the year 1792. The curation of the Landsherbar was in charge of Georg von Martens. This herbarium was the base of the first floristic checklist of the mosses and liverworts of Baden-Württemberg published in 1862.

    The most important acquisition was the herbarium of Friedrich Hegelmaier (1833-1906), which consisted of 9000 specimens collected between 1862 and 1904. This collection comprised many specimens of Carl Albert Kemmler (1813-1888). Hegelmaier has extensively exchanged material, mostly with Scandinavian collectors.

    Many specimens of Lorenz Herter (1857-1888) are in the Stuttgart herbarium, but the greatest part of his collection is incorporated in TUB.

    Another valuable acquisition was the herbarium of Karl Bertsch (1878-1965), consisting of 9000 specimens (mosses only, the whereabouts of the liverworts is unknown). It includes the extensive collection of Max Eggler (18XX?-1944).

    The greatest accession received the bryophyte herbarium STU from the purchase of the herbarium of Fritz Koppe (1896-1981), which comprises about 40.000 specimens.

    From the herbarium of Ruprecht Düll, about 23.000 specimens came in possession of the museum.

    In the years following von Martens, the bryophyte herbarium was left without curation. It was not until 1975, when a sytematic reorganisation of the material was realized under the survey of Volkmar Wirth. From that date, about 20.000 specimens have been made accessible to the scientific community.

    Since 1989, Martin Nebel is in charge of the curation of the bryophyte herbarium. Today about 110.000 specimens of 2.400 moss species and 30.000 specimens of 1.250 liverwort specie are data-based.

    The geographic focus of the collection is on Baden-Württemberg. Further important proveniences are the Alps (Hegelmaier, Eggler, Koppe, recent collections), Northern and Eastern Germany (Koppe), Greece (Düll, recent collections), Spain, especially the Balearic Islands (Hegelmaier, Koppe), and outside Europe Cyprus, Madeira and the Canary Islands (Koppe). In the last years, many specimens from the tropics have been added by Alfons Schäfer-Verwimp, mostly from the Neotropics of Ecuador.

    The Fungi Herbarium at Stuttgart

    The fungi herbarium comprises about 100.000 specimens and was voluntarily curated by Hans Hass for over 40 years. It consists of the collections of H. Hass, M. Hallermeier, F.L. Sautermeister, A. Gminder and the fungarium G. Krieglsteiner. Furthermore, an extensive collection of water colour paintings of fungi is extant. Most of them have been painted by Theodor Gottschik, Hans Spaeth, Elisabeth Schaupp, Hanna Maser, Otto Baral, August Hahne and Hans Haas. Some still unprocessed herbaria (like E. Schüz) contain exsiccatae collections of P. Sydow, L. Fuckel, O. Jaap and W. Krieger.

    Furthermore, a great collection of rust fungi of K. Müller, F.L. Sautermeister and K. Bertsch is still in the need of processing.