Online transcribathon from 16th to 19th april 2020:
Every year, transcribathons are organised at the same moment around the world under the denominator WeDigBio (Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections); the objective, to enter as much data from natural history collections as possible! Because many people are nowadays strained at home, an extraordinary online WeDigBio Lite event will be organised between the 16th and the 19th April 2020. Meise Botanic Garden participates as well through DoeDat! Will you participate in this project about exotic Boraginaceae?
The borage family in Belgium:
The Boraginaceae (borage family) occur in all around the world in temperate and tropical regions. The family is specially species-rich around the Mediterranean Sea. It is a quite diverse family in terms of habit, ranging from herbs, shrubs, and trees, to even some lianas. The leaves and/or stalks are often hairy. In Belgium, approximately one half of the species is indigenous while the other half is exotic.
In this project, we address the exotic Boraginaceae. In Europe, we find them primarily in ruderal environments. Most exotic species belong to genera including indigenous species as well, such as Anchusa, Cynoglossum, and Pulmonaria. The family name is derived from an exotic genus and species originating from the Mediterranean Basin, namely borage (Borago officinalis).
The Belgian Herbarium:
Meise Botanic Garden holds the largest herbarium collection of Belgian plant specimens. Each of these herbarium specimens has a label with valuable information such as the plant’s identification, and when, where, and who collected the plant. These specimens can be used in many domains of research, such as conservation, evolution, ecology and systematics. These data help us to better understand the plants of Belgium, their history and that of people who collected them. There are about 200,000 specimens in the Belgian Herbarium of the Meise Botanic Garden and we want to document them all! These data will then be made available online at www.botanicalcollections.be.
Keywords (Latin):
Belgium, Boraginaceae, Alienae, Hortus Botanicus Meise, Botanica.
Read more »
