Royal Botanical Gardens Herbarium (HAM)
Citation
Mentlik J, Cavallin N (2022). Royal Botanical Gardens Herbarium (HAM). Version 2.1. Royal Botanical Gardens Herbarium (HAM). Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.5886/kcwotj accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-08-27.Description
The Royal Botanical Gardens Herbarium (HAM) houses 62,000 accessioned vascular plant specimens from 191 families. After its founding in 1950, approximately 9000 specimens were collected by Ecologist Aleksander Tamsalu over the course of a few years. The collection has a focus on the local floras of Burlington and Hamilton, Ontario, with approximately half of the collection from specifically within the Royal Botanical Gardens' Nature Sanctuaries and to a smaller degree, its cultivated areas. Notable specimens include nomenclatural standards of Syringa and type specimens of the Gentianaceae as described by Dr. James Pringle. HAM is the only Canadian herbarium to accept nomenclatural standards. HAM incorporated the herbarium of McMaster University, Hamilton College (MCM) in 1966. Other notable, historical collections include those of Christian Ramsay Brown (Lady Dalhousie) and of the Hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art. HAM continues to accession an average of 385 specimens yearly.Sampling Description
Study Extent
Label digitization and image capture of vascular plant specimens from the Royal Botanical Gardens Herbarium (HAM).Sampling
The label digitization protocol follows two periods. First, two thirds of the specimens in this resource (21,961 specimens) were transcribed in full into a Microsoft Access database (2002 – 2009). In 2011, this data was batch imported into the current database, BG-Base. Since then, the full label text has been manually entered into BG-Base by botany interns (2011 – Present). Specimen images were captured and saved as .jpg files using a book scanner (2010 – 2012) or a HerbScan flatbed scanner (2015 – Present). Moving forward, the current focus for digitization is newly collected specimens. New digitization protocols to improve the rate of label transcription and to georeference the legacy specimens are to be determined.Quality Control
In the past decade, label transcription has been carried out by botany interns trained to use BG-Base. However, on review of the dataset, there were still issues of unfilled fields, misuse of free text fields, etc. Therefore, the data was cleaned prior to transformation to fit the Darwin Core terms. Some fields such as coordinates, countries or abundances were populated by scraping free text fields for keywords. Other measures of control include setting range constraints for valid dates or coordinates. Future transcriptions will follow stricter controlled vocabularies and can be expected to contain fewer errors.Method steps
- Newly collected specimens are digitized systematically.
- Specimens are identified by trained field botanists.
- Specimen field notes are then transcribed in BG-Base and a label is created.
- The specimen is mounted with the label affixed and frozen at -30°C for seven days.
- Specimens are then scanned and filed into the collection.
- Legacy specimens are digitized opportunistically, but with an emphasis on locally collected specimens.
- Determinations are made or updated if the user is qualified and time permits.
- Specimen and annotation labels are transcribed in BG-Base using the HAM number present on the specimen.
- Annotation labels are printed and affixed if applicable.
- Specimens are then frozen at -30°C for seven days.
- Specimens are re-filed into the collection.
Taxonomic Coverages
By class, the digitized collection at HAM contains 89% Magnoliopsida, 8% Polypodiopsida, 2% Pinopsida, and 2% Lycopodiopsida
The families most represented are Cyperaceae (9%), Asteraceae (8%), Rosaceae (7%), Poaceae (7%) and Oleaceae (4%).
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Cyperarceaerank: family
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Asteraceaerank: family
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Rosaceaerank: family
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Poaceaerank: family
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Oleaceaerank: family
Geographic Coverages
51% of the digitized HAM collection is representative of Royal Botanical Gardens' Nature Sanctuaries and to a small degree its horticultural collections. An additional 42% of the specimens were collected in Ontario, Canada. Two percent of the collection displays representation from other continents with no specimens from Antarctica. Royal Botanical Gardens coverage is overrepresented in the currently digitized collection based on the priority to digitize locally collected specimens first. In the physical collection, it is still the dominant representation, but likely less than 51%.
Bibliographic Citations
Contacts
Joseph Mentlikoriginator
position: Herbarium Intern
Royal Botanical Gardens
680 Plains Road West
Burlington
L7T 4H4
Ontario
CA
homepage: https://www.rbg.ca/
Joseph Mentlik
metadata author
position: Herbarium Intern
Royal Botanical Gardens
680 Plains Road West
Burlington
L7T 4H4
Ontario
CA
homepage: https://www.rbg.ca/
Nadia Cavallin
metadata author
position: Field Botanist and Herbarium Curator
Royal Botanical Gardens
680 Plains Road West
Burlington
L7T 4H4
Ontario
CA
Telephone: 905-527-1158 ext. 238
email: ncavallin@rbg.ca
homepage: https://www.rbg.ca/
Nadia Cavallin
curator
position: Field Botanist and Herbarium Curator
Royal Botanical Gardens
680 Plains Road West
Burlington
L7T 4H4
Ontario
CA
Telephone: 905-527-1158 ext. 238
email: ncavallin@rbg.ca
homepage: https://www.rbg.ca/
Joseph Mentlik
content provider
position: Herbarium Intern
Royal Botanical Gardens
680 Plains Road West
Burlington
L7T 4H4
Ontario
CA
homepage: https://www.rbg.ca/
Nadia Cavallin
administrative point of contact
position: Field Botanist and Herbarium Curator
Royal Botanical Gardens
680 Plains Road West
Burlington
L7T 4H4
Ontario
CA
Telephone: 905-527-1158 ext. 238
email: ncavallin@rbg.ca
homepage: https://www.rbg.ca/