Herbarium der Regensburgischen Botanischen Gesellschaft von 1790 e. V.
93040 Regensburg
Germany
Jürgen Klotz
Email: juergen.klotz@biologie.uni-regensburg.de
The Regensburgische Botanische Gesellschaft (RBG) with its herbarium (REG) was founded in 1790 by David Heinrich Hoppe (1760–1846) and is the world’s oldest society for botany still in existence. The herbarium has been on permanent loan to the University of Regensburg, Department of Botany, since 1977. REG has 123 000 herbarium specimens of vascular plants (in 1390 fascicles), 20 000 mosses, 5000 lichens, and 12 000 fungi. REG holds specimens from Bavaria and the rest of Germany, Southeast Europe, North America, and Africa (in decreasing order). However, most of the herbarium material is arranged in alphabetical order by families, genera, and species, instead of by country or geographical region. At present, 2000 specimens of the Flora exsiccata Bavarica have been digitised; the estimated 200–300 African types will be digitised next. Many of the specimens from Bavaria are analysed in databases for purposes of floristic grid mapping and nature conservation.
Materials of Special Interest
- Flora Ratisbonensis: Historical vascular plant specimens from the area of Regensburg, mostly collected during the 19th century. The collection encompasses many of the species of critical groups such as Salix, Rosa, Rubus, Hieracium, and hybrids of Epilobium.
- Flora exsiccata Bavarica: This collection contains 2167 historical vascular plant specimens of 2000 species from Bavaria, at least one specimen of each species recorded for Bavaria, current to the early 20th century. Digitization was completed in 2005 and is available at http://www.regensburgische-botanische-gesellschaft.de/feb.html.
- Herbarium Weldenianum: A collection of 20 000 vascular plant specimens, founded in 1853 by Freiherr Franz Ludwig von Welden, with types from central, southern, and eastern Europe, as well as from Africa.