V.L.Komarov’s expedition to Russia, China, and Korea from 1895 to 1897

Study Extent

Description: The data mobilisation in V.L. Komarov’s Flora Manshuriae is focused on far eastern Russian, Northeastern China and North Korean flora

Sampling

Two groups were defined within the LE Herbarium for data mobilisation purposes. The first group comprises herbarium specimens of vascular plants collected from far eastern Russia, Northeastern China and North Korea. V.L. Komarov collected 1,441 in 1895, 1844 in 1896 and 3690 specimens in 1897 and plant records representing 51 families that he identified. These data describe a specimen dataset of Eastern Asia plants preserved at the Komarov Botniac Garden (LE) and other several insitutes (V, TI, NY, A). The second group includes the primary occurrence data he observed in the field. Komarov dedicated three years to plant exploration, meticulously documenting species observed in the field. In 1895, he documented 2283 species from Amur and Ussuri, Russia. The following year, in 1896, his observations expanded, documenting 3887 species across Primorsky and Amur of Russia, and Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang of China. By 1897, Komarov's efforts culminated in the recording of 8560 species spanning Hamgyong-bukto, Ryanggang, Chagang-do of North Korea, and Jilin, Liaoning of China. The data from the literature were transferred to the draft tables corresponding to GBIF’s requirements for Occurrence datasets (GBIF 2024). After that, the localities were identified using the google map and Geonames service and georeferenced. The taxonomy of vascular plants was validated using our own Eastern Aisan checklist (Chang et al., 2024) and cross-checked with POWO (2024).

Quality Control

The quality of the final datasets was first manually checked using the BRAHMS RDE file. The first set of specimens is at LE with duplicates at TI, NY, BM, and A,

Method steps

1. The three-volumes of Flora Manshuriae were published in the Acta Horti Petropolitani (Trudy Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago botanicheskago sada.Acta Horti Petropolitani ) from 1901 until 1907. Komarov used the Russian language to transliterate the local names he heard, plus names in the languages of other ethnic minorities who live within the area. The information here corresponds to many of the specific localities noted in Flora Mandshuricae from Russia, China, and North Korea, in the period 1895 to 1897. In the dataset collected across various countries in Asia, records of Wilson, Faurie, Komarov, and Maximowicz exist, but it's uncommon to encounter data that has undergone thorough integration and refinement via data mining. Komarov's previously published literature was converted to a text file using Google Documents in Google Drive, then processed through an OCR program, and finally translated into English using Google Translate. A crucial aspect for restoring historical collections in East Asia lies in reinstating Chinese characters for place names. To establish this historical collection, a georeferencing process is indispensable for cleansing the data of place names, coordinates, and records. Georeferencing attempts were made using Google Maps and Geonames. The Russian version of Flora Manshuriae was translated into Japanese in seven volumes comprising nine books from 1927 to 1933 by the South Manchuria Railway Company. During this period, a detailed map of the collection route was provided in this translated version for reference. The circumscription of the geographical names or landmarks has changed for more than 100 years. The area treated here is today's geographic names or some localities from nearby are included based on the Japanese version map. Some localities from older collections have still not been located on today's maps.

N/A

1. Orobanchaceae
   rank: family
2. Magnoliopsida
   rank: class
3. Apocynaceae
   rank: family
4. Lamiales
   rank: order
5. Plantae
   rank: kingdom
6. Gentianales
   rank: order
7. Pinales
   rank: order
8. Tracheophyta
   rank: phylum
9. Pinopsida
   rank: class
10. Pinaceae
    rank: family

Komrov journeyed through Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and Khabarovsk Krai regions of Russia in 1895. The following year, in 1896, he explored the Primorsky Krai, Heilongjiang, and Jilin regions of China. Subsequently, in 1897, he revisited the Primorsky Krai in Russia. His travels continued to lead him to Rason, Hamgyongbuk-do, Ryangang, and Chagang in North Korea, as well as Liaoning and Jilin in China.