Moss Type Specimens at the Natural History Museum
Project funded by GBIF
About the database
The online database will contain information about the individual specimens, such as images, the date and locality where they were collected, and the people associated with the specimens. This could be the person who collected the specimen, who described the species, or who later commented on the specimen in some way (eg by writing descriptions or making drawings). The database will also include biographical information and handwriting samples. Information on the original publication is included, both in the bibliography and as an image of the original description (protologue).
About the images
Many herbarium sheets contain several specimens, sometimes enclosed in individual packets but often glued or taped to the sheet, and frequently there are pencilled annotations, drawings or annotation labels. Images of the whole sheet preserve this data, which often represents historical information available in no other form. Individual specimens are shown as one or more images. Handwriting samples are also provided.
The images of the specimens are being prepared using an A4 flat-bed scanner. Publication-quality .tif files will be available on request.
