A CHECKLIST OF COLLECTORS OF IRISH NATIVE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS REPRESENTED IN THE HERBARIUM, NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS, GLASNEVIN, DUBLIN (DBN), WITH BIOGRAPHICAL ANNOTATIONS. E. CHARLES NELSON National Botanic Gardens. Glasnevin. Dublin 9, Ireland.* * Present address: Tippitiwitchet Cottage, Hall Road, Outwell, Wisbech PE14 8PE, U.K. PATRICK A. REILLY 26 Nephin Road, Dublin 7. Glasra new series 3(1): 1 – 30. publication date i. 1997 ABSTRACT. A checklist is provided of collectors represented in the Irish section of the herbarium of the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin (DBN), with brief biographical notes about some collectors. INTRODUCTION The native phanerogams and ferns section of the herbarium in the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, has been accumulated during almost two centuries. The complicated history of the herbarium, including its transfer in 1970 from the Natural History Section of the National Museum of Ireland, has been variously documented (e.g. Bal11890; Johnson 1891; Anonymous 1970; Nelson & McCracken 1987; Nelson 1990), and catalogues of other sections or parts of the herbarium are published elsewhere (e.g. Murphy & Synnott 1979; Nelson 1980; Synnott 1978, 1980). Papers discussing the collections of various individuals have also been compiled but none so far issued has concerned collections made in Ireland - for example, Augustine Henry's forestry herbarium (Walsh 1957), Robert Brown's Australian plants (Powell & Morley 1976), R. LI. Praeger's Crassulaceae (Nelson 1994), N. J. Winch's plants (Nelson 1987), James McNab's painted herbarium (Nelson 1989), Dr Patrick Neill's garden plants (Nelson 1992), C. E. H. Ostenfeld's specimens from Western Australia (Nelson & Scannell 1978), James Niven's Cape of Good Hope hortus siccus (Nelson & Rourke 1993), and Shetland Islands' gatherings by Dr Gilbert McNab and others (Nelson 1995). No listing of the collectors represented in the section of the herbarium containing Ireland's native flowering plants and ferns has been issued hitherto, and as can be seen, only a small proportion of the collectors are cited in standard reference catalogues (e.g. Kent & Allen 1984; Desmond 1994) and other works (e.g. Synnott 1986). METHODS OF COMPILATION The checklist has been compiled from three separate sources: 1. Sampling of herbarium specimens from a small number of common or more notable species (i.e. those which are unusual and likely to have been collected by local and visiting botanists). 2. Accession registers compiled by the Botany Division, Natural History Section, National Museum of Ireland, and later in the National Botanic Gardens, listing specimens and collections added to the herbarium 3. Published catalogues, especially Scannell & Synnott (1990, noted as Occ. papers 5) and Reynolds & Scannell (1992, noted as Occ. papers 7). In the following checklist, collectors are listed alphabetically, and (for deceased persons only) their dates of birth and death are stated when known. As this checklist is not intended to be a comprehensive record of all the localities represented by specimens collected by each individual, county names and dates are only representative names and dates and do not indicate the entire range of an individual's collecting activities. A curlicue (§) in front of a name indicates that the person is treated in Desmond (1994) and an asterisk (*) in front of the surname in the checklist indicates that this collector is listed by Kent & Allen (1984). Records of plants in the herbarium of the School of Botany, Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) are extracted from Kent & Allen (1984) and Webb (1991), and for the Ulster Museum, Belfast (BEL) from Hackney (1992) and Kent & Allen (1984). CONTENTS OF HERBARIUM, NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS, GLASNEVIN The herbarium of the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, incorporates the following herbaria (as listed in Kent & Allen 1984). CRK: Department of Botany (latterly Department of Plant Science), University College, Cork (catalogues by O'Neill (1976, 1997) are headed Herbarium, Botanic Gardens, Fota). Only part of this herbarium is incorporated in DBN. The majority of specimens that survived in 1989 in CRK were transferred to the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, because they were not required by University College, Cork, for teaching or research and space for housing the herbarium was inadequate. The transfer was also desirable in order to prevent further deterioration in the condition of the specimens, and to facilitate their use by research botanists. In 1987 and 1988, most of the Australian phanerogam genera were sent on long-term loan to the School of Botany, Trinity College, Dublin (TCD); this material included specimens collected by J. J. H. de Labillardiere and James Drummond. In 1989, the remaining phanerogam specimens (as catalogued by O'Neill 1976, 1977; Cullinane & Whelan 1977a & 1977b; Cullinane 1971; see also Parkes 1953, O'Neill 1969) were sorted and transferred to DBN. With reluctance, specimens rendered valueless by insect damage were removed to prevent infestation of the collections in DBN; in the end it was apparent that more than half of the'CRK specimens were irrecoverably damaged by moths. Among the material transferred to DBN, but not listed by O'Neill, were specimens of native Irish plants collected by e.g. Isaac Carroll, Thomas Chandlee and William Hincks, as well as specimens (especially Poaceae) from the herbarium of Professor Walter Wade (d. 1825) who was the 'founder' of Glasnevin Botanic Gardens. Bryophytes have been transferred to DBN, and the lichen specimens are now deposited in TCD. The only specimens remaining in University College, Cork are the marine algae, many of which were collected by William Henry Harvey. DBC: Department of Botany, University College, Belfield, Dublin. This herbarium was transferred to DBN in 1976, and all specimens that originated in DBC bear the accession number 1976:100. This herbarium was especially rich in French ~n~~imen~- and was assembled after c.1900. The specimens originally in the Royal College of Science did not form part of this collection, but were incorporated into the botanical collections of the National Museum of Ireland. DBN: Natural History Division, National Museum of Ireland. All botanical specimens and botanical books were transferred to the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, in 1970, and the acronym DBN was adopted for the amalgamated collections (Anonymous 1970; Nelson & McCracken 1987). DUB: National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. This herbarium comprised material gathered in the Gardens during the 1920s and 1930s, and thus was largely a collection of cultivated plants. As many specimens were poorly documented and others were severely damaged by insects, only a small proportion of this collection survived. LIMFC: Limerick Field Club (see Reynolds & Scannell1992). LIMK: Limerick Museum (see Reynolds & Scannell1992). MII: Museum of Irish Industry . In 1845, the Museum of Economic Geology was formed in Dublin to hold the geological specimens of the Irish Ordnance Survey; David Moore's botanical specimens were also part of this collection (O'Riordan 1981). The title was changed in 1853 to Museum of Irish Industry, and the following year the Royal Dublin Society's professors were transferred to the Museum of Irish Industry. The Museum was abolished in 1867 when the Royal College of Science was established as a teaching institution; the Royal College of Science became University College, Dublin. The museum's zoological specimens were then transferred to the National Museum of Ireland, and the botanical collections to the Botanic Gardens, where a pre-fabricated building, called the Museum of Economic Botany, was erected to hold the collections (Nelson & McCracken 1987). In the 1890s most of the botanical specimens were transferred to the Natural History Section of the National Museum, and in 1970 returned to Glasnevin (Nelson & McCracken, O'Riordan [1983]) OSI: Ordnance Survey of Ireland. The only collection involved is the set of ten volumes of flowering plants and ferns collected by David Moore in counties Antrim and Londonderry (1834-1838). There are also some specimens collected by Charles Moore, David's younger brother, who briefly succeeded his brother as botanist in the Ordnance Survey. It is not known if Charles Moore's specimens came through the Surveyor the family (i.e. David Moore). From the Ordnance Survey the specimens passed to the Museum of Irish Industry, and thence to the National Museum of Ireland (for a history of the collections see O'Riordan 1981). RDS: Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society established the National Botanic Gardens in 1795 (Nelson & McCracken 1987). The complicated history of the Society's museum is noted above under MIl. REFERENCES Anonymous. 1970. The Irish National Herbarium at Glasnevin, Dublin. Taxon 19 653-654. Ball, V. 1890. General guide to the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. Dublin: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Cullinane, J. 1971. Isaac Carroll herbarium, University College, Cork. University College Cork record 45: 14-16. Cullinane, J. P. & Whelan, P. M. 1977a. The bryophyte herbarium, University College, Cork. Irish naturalists journal 19: 90-91. Cullinane, J. P. & Whelan, P. M. 1977b. The bryophyte herbarium, University College, Cork. Catalogue of the herbarium, Botanic Gardens, Fota, Co. Cork. Part III. Cork: Botany Department, University College, Cork. Desmond, R. G. C. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists. (Revised and