E. C. Smith Herbarium (ACAD) - Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History

Rodger Evans

doi:10.15468/tl3cde

E. C. Smith Herbarium (ACAD) - Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History

Citation

Evans R, Sinou C (2018). E. C. Smith Herbarium (ACAD) - Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. Version 1.2. Acadia University. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/tl3cde accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-15.

Description

Today, the E. C. Smith Herbarium contains over 200,000 specimens, including vascular plants, bryophytes, and fungi. It is the largest herbarium in Atlantic Canada and the first Canadian herbarium to have a digital database with scanned images of the collection. The Acadia Herbarium began as an initial gift to Dr. H. G. Perry of a small collection made by G. U. Hay of St. John, New Brunswick. Included in this collection were a few plants collected by J. Fowler of New Brunswick before he went to Queen's University. These first specimens were collected between 1868 and 1880. Some of the plants were cultivated and some were from the United States. Subsequently, in these early years, the additions were made chiefly through the work of Dr. H. G. Perry and his students. No records were available until the collection numbered some 6,000 sheets. Included in the 6,000, however, are a number of sheets from the Gray Herbarium Expeditions to Nova Scotia in 1920 and 1921. Of the specimens above the 6000 count, the majority have been added by the work of Dr. M. V. Roscoe and her students from 1928-1940 and Dr. H. P. Banks and his students from 1940-1946. In 1946 a large collection was being assembled by Mr. David Erskine, who catalogued the Flora of Wolfville and vicinity. During Dr. E. C. Smith's tenure at Acadia (1947-1971) the number of specimens grew from 20,000 sheets to over 70,000. In 1970, Acadia University's Board of Governors announced that the department's excellent collection of plants would be named the E. C. Smith Herbarium as tribute to him for his contributions to the collection.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

Digitization of Vascular plants from the E. C. Smith Herbarium with a focus on plants of the Acadian Forest Region.

Sampling

All data are manually digitized as text from high resolution scans of each herbarium specimen.

Quality Control

Records are corrected on an ad hoc basis.

Method steps

Data are entered into the main database through in-house software, some of which is verified electronically (e.g. all taxonomic data using ITIS).

Taxonomic Coverages

Plantae
rank: kingdom
Chromista
rank: kingdom

Geographic Coverages

Primarily the Flora of the Acadian Forest Region. However, there are smaller collections within the herbarium that stem from research initiatives across the globe.

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Rodger Evans
originator
position: Director - E. C. Smith Herbarium
Acadia University
33 Westwood Avenue
Wolfville
B4P 2R6
Nova Scotia
CA
Telephone: 902-585-1710
email: rodger.evans@acadiau.ca
homepage: http://herbarium.acadiau.ca/

Rodger Evans
metadata author
position: Director - E. C. Smith Herbarium
Acadia University
33 Westwood Avenue
Wolfville
B4P 2R6
Nova Scotia
CA
Telephone: 902-585-1710
email: rodger.evans@acadiau.ca
homepage: http://herbarium.acadiau.ca/

Carole Sinou
metadata author
position: Biodiversity Data Manager
Canadensys
4101 rue Sherbrooke est
Montreal
H1X 2B2
Quebec
CA
Telephone: 514-343-6111
email: canadensys.network@gmail.com
homepage: https://www.canadensys.net

Steve McNeil
programmer
position: IT Consultant
Wolfville
Nova Scotia
CA
email: steve@acadiau.ca

Marian Munroe
curator
position: Curator - Botany
Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History
1747 Summer Street
Halifax
B3H 3A6
Nova Scotia
CA
Telephone: 902-424-3564

Rodger Evans
administrative point of contact
position: Director - E. C. Smith Herbarium
Acadia University
33 Westwood Avenue
Wolfville
B4P 2R6
Nova Scotia
CA
Telephone: 902-585-1710
email: rodger.evans@acadiau.ca
homepage: http://herbarium.acadiau.ca/

Alain Belliveau
administrative point of contact
position: Curator
Acadia University, K. C. Irving Environmental Science Centre
32 University Avenue
Wolfville
B4P 2R6
Nova Scotia
CA
Telephone: 902-585-1335
email: alain.belliveau@acadiau.ca
homepage: http://herbarium.acadiau.ca/

Allison Walker
administrative point of contact
position: Assistant Professor
Acadia University, Department of Biology
33 Westwood Avenue
Wolfville
B4P 2R6
Nova Scotia
CA
Telephone: 902-585-1333
email: allison.walker@acadiau.ca
homepage: https://biology.acadiau.ca