Catalog of Bryophytes

The L.E. Anderson Bryophyte Herbarium now provides a portion of the herbarium specimen records. The collections database is updated frequently. Cataloging the Southeast US specimens has been completed and cataloging of all North American specimens is well under way. Specimens from other parts of the world have been cataloged when used for scientific research, or on loan. All new accessions into the collection have been cataloged since 2000. The L.E.Anderson Bryophyte Herbarium records use Catalog Series DUKE.

The Sphagnum herbarium of R. E. Andrus (BING), housed in Binghamton University , Binghamton, NY, has been used for scientific research in the Duke Bryophyte Laboratory. The specimens are being cataloged in our database with the catalog series BING. The data are presented with the approval of R. Andrus, and data should be credited to BING.

The user has the option to search all the catalog data at one time, or to search two subsets of it (voucher specimens, exsiccates). The subsets return the identical collection data as the full database search, with additional information depending on the subset type.

The Bryophyte Full Search option will return collection data of all bryophyte specimens (mosses, hepatics and hornworts) currently cataloged, including types and exsiccates, with their previous determinations. All determinations of a specimen are shown in separate lines in the web results page. You can proceed to the detail page by clicking on the catalog number of any result. All determinations will be grouped and shown together in the detail page.

The Bryophyte Voucher Search option will return collection data of all specimens used for scientific research including the voucher details. Vouchers are labeled as culture, cytological, DNA, ecological, isozyme, morphological. Only current determinations are provided. You can check older determinations using Bryophyte Full Search and catalog number of selected specimen.

The Bryophyte Exsiccate Search option allows you to search the Duke exsiccate collection. The list of Duke exsiccate series is available here. Not all specimens have been entered yet. [Bryophyte Exsiccate Search is not currently available.]

Two types of searches are available for each option:

Express search looks up a term in any field of the database (similar to Google search).
Advance search looks for term(s) in selected specific fields.

There will soon be list of taxa available in the bryophyte catalog (not yet available).

Questions about the data base or its use should be addressed to B. Shaw.

Search Tips and Notes

To search for specimens by plant name (genus, species, subspecies, varieties), author, collector, collector number, barcode number, or type status, use the Express Search. To search one or more specific fields in the database, use the Advanced Search. Advance Search is significantly faster, as the search is performed only within the specified field.

Maximum number of returned records in one search is 10,000.

The Full Taxon Name field searches the genus, species, subspecies (abbreviated as ssp.) and varieties (abbreviated as var.). For example, the search term "rufescens" finds specimens of Acaulon muticum var. rufescens, Dendropogonella rufescens, etc.

Rolling the mouse over the field name in advance search shows field description and search hints for ambiguous fields.

Wildcard character (*) can be used to find partial words, but search times will be significantly longer. In case of negative search result, repeat the search without it.

Web Results Page

When a search is launched, matching records are sought, and if found, these are displayed in a tabular format:

Search result page example

All determinations of a single specimen are shown in separate lines in the web results page . Such specimens share an identical Catalog Number. The data displayed are a subset of the information captured for all specimens.

The taxon name marked as "Yes" in the column 'Current' designates the name according to which the specimen is filed in the herbarium.

The author abbreviations of scientific names are not shown; they are used according to MOSs TROPICOS database.

The name of the person who made the determination, and names of collectors are presented in the format: Last name, First name, Middle initial.

In the Web Results Page, Users have the option to download all Search Results in three formats:

comma-delimited text file (button CSV)
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (button XLS)
Extensible Markup Language (button XML).

Data downloads larger that 10,000 records, or download requests that include information beyond that included in the Web Results Page table, are available by request. Such requests should be submitted via email to the Data Managers.

The Specimen Detail Page

It is possible to view more information about a specimen than is shown on the Search Results page. Users may look at a single record by clicking on the Catalog Number in the Web Results table.

Detail page example

The second table displays all the different binomials that have been applied to this specimen including the names of scientists who have annotated it (if such information is available), and the date of such event. Any verifications of the particular determination, or comments on the identification or nomenclature noted on annotation labels, are present in the Notes on determination field. Type specimens are marked in the last column.

Specimen identifiers

DUKE bryophyte herbarium uses two types of identifiers:

Barcode refers to the barcode attached to the specimen. Specimens cataloged early in our databasing efforts at Duke do not have barcodes. Records of epiphyllous liverworts consisting of multiple taxa on the same substrate (leaf) share an identical barcode.

Catalog number is assigned automatically during the cataloging. It is unique for each record in the database.

When requesting a particular specimen on loan it is helpful to cite either the Barcode number or Catalog number (please note which of the two is used).

FAQs

Cannot find your taxon in the catalog?
Try other nomenclatural combinations of the taxon name. We welcome your feedback on errors in our data related to taxonomic and nomenclatural synonyms! Contact Blanka Shaw.

Using non-english alphabet?
We are currently in process of removing accents from our data. Please try searching persons and localities both with and without accents in the names. Send us your feedback.

Want to limit taxon search to the most current identifications?
Enter the taxon name. Enter YES in search field Current.

Are images of the plant or the specimen label available?
We've started to build a collection of bryophyte images. They will be available as part of the web search soon. We don't have specimen label images and lichen images available now.

Am I searching your database directly?
The web search is querying a web cache; you are not searching the catalog directly. The web cache is being updated weekly.

Unsolvable problems?
Contact us.

Acknowledgments

Databasing bryophyte records in DUKE was supported by NSF grant Award no. 0444586 to A.J. Shaw.

<-- TOP

Duke University Herbarium