Violaceae

The pansy family in Belgium:
Pansy species (genus Viola) are by far the best known and most common of this family. Many species occur naturally in our region, such as e.g. field pansy (Viola arvensis), common dog-violet (Viola riviniana), but also wild pansy (Viola tricolor), native in Europe and often used in gardens and pots for town embellishment.
The subendemic species or subspecies Viola [lutea subsp.] calaminaria also occurs in Belgium. It grows solely in the three-border area around Aachen (Germany) and Kelmis (Belgium). The distribution area of this plant is thus much smaller than that of some endemic species of larger countries such as China, Brazil, or the United States. Yet, because the border between Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands “happens” to coincide with its limited distribution area, this zinc violet receives much less attention than what its distribution area actually deserves.

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, Violaceae, Herbae, Hortus Botanicus Meise, Botanica.