Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 19 - No. 1 January-March 2016 Botany Profile Conveying Specimen Value through Digitization By Elizabeth Jacobsen and Gary A. Krupnick he United States National Her- conveyor-based project at the Smithsonian Program Office (DPO) are in charge of barium (Herbarium Code: US) (following the digitization of the National managing money for Smithsonian’s digi- Thas always been about sharing. Museum of American History’s National tization projects across the entire Institu- Initially, the “diffusion of knowledge” Numismatics Collection). tion. Per specimen conveyor costs run was achieved primarily by publishing The U.S. National Herbarium has been at less than a dollar, so it was decided to articles, hosting visitors, and sending out working towards the goal of complete begin with a portion of the collection and specimen loans. Now, the Department of collection digitization for a long time. “We move forward from there. “The hope is Botany is taking sharing to a new level have always looked out for opportunities that we find a donor,” comments Orli, by digitizing a significant portion of the to digitize,” reports Orli, even if those “but we haven’t found that resource yet.” collection’s 5 million specimens using opportunities involved the laborious pro- Though current technology makes conveyor belt technology contracted cess of punching holes into a paper card digitization more affordable than ever from Picturae, a European company that and keying them into a computer, as was before, money remains one of the pri- specializes in digitization. Using this new done in the 1970s. mary obstacles to completing the project. technology, the herbarium has begun the An inventory of the Type Collection Time, of course, is the other. “We can’t task of imaging specimens at an aver- was initiated in the 1970s to make this keep up with the level of need,” Orli age rate of about 4,000 specimens per portion of the collection easier to use. laments, proposing that we may need to day. The plan is to create an image for Over the course of almost 50 years, the rethink the current workflow. Specimen half a million plant specimens in 6 to 8 herbarium has built a digital inventory preparation is time- and labor-intensive, months. This rapid digitization project, of around 1.5 million specimens, repre- requiring experts who can provide the which began in October 2015 with the senting more than a third of the pressed correct name for a specimen, as well evening primrose family (Onagraceae), is specimens in the herbarium. Using rapid as a set of barcodes linking names to now well into the ferns, and will eventu- digitization approaches, the entire collec- EMu (Electronic Museum management ally continue with the sunflower family tion could be completed in under 10 years. database) for each specimen within each (Asteraceae). The herbarium of the Muséum folder. The ideal situation would be to The timing of the project is no National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris has complete this preparation before scan- coincidence, according to Sylvia Orli, IT already imaged about 7 million specimens ning the images, but with the speed of Manager and Webmaster for the Depart- using the conveyor technique, although the conveyor, it will be more efficient ment of Botany. The digitization project their entries, for now, contain only the to scan first, then retroactively provide “follows rapid and amazing advances image and the name on the specimen’s the correct labels and barcodes. This in computer technology,” she explains, folder. The U.S. National Herbarium has arrangement is more cost-effective, if with the U.S. National Herbarium joining its eyes on a bigger, more scientifically slightly slower. After the scanning is a worldwide digitization effort that is par- valuable prize: a complete database of finished, another company (contracted ticularly well-liked among herbaria. The label information and images with verified through Picturae) will transcribe the once insurmountable task of making mil- species names. label data and return it for inclusion in lions of specimens accessible is suddenly the EMu catalogue. feasible. The herbarium digitization he Smithsonian began exploring The improved accessibility will make project, using conveyor-based technol- the idea of using a conveyor belt to the herbarium a more influential force in ogy to image natural history collections, Timage specimens about a year and a conservation and scientific research. In is the first of its kind for a herbarium half ago. The Office of the Chief Informa- the past, the herbarium relied on speci- tion Officer (OCIO) and the Digitization in the United States, and the second Continued on page 13 Travel Pedro Acevedo traveled to Nas- seek out new populations of Phaseolus script of the Tacuinum sanitatis, in view of sau, Bahamas (12/11 – 12/14) to be a polystachios to aid in improvement of an exhibition at the Walters Art Gallery. guest speaker at a retreat of the Bahamas germaplasm collections at the USDA-ARS Mohammad Vatanparast traveled National Trust. Germplasm Resources Information Net- to Botucatu, Brazil (10/31 – 11/8) to give John Boggan traveled to Philadelphia, work (GRIN) seedbank; and to Botucatu, a talk at the symposium of the Legume Pennsylvania (10/7 – 10/9) to attend the 9th Brazil (10/31 – 11/8) to give a talk and co- Morphology Working Group. North American Natural History Special lead a workshop at the symposium of the Warren Wagner traveled to Miami, Interest Group (NHSIG) and Axiell User Legume Morphology Working Group. Florida (11/16 – 11/18) to attend the board Conference at the Penn Museum. Robert Faden traveled to London, meeting of the National Tropical Botani- Barrett Brooks traveled to Orlando, England (8/1 – 9/25) to visit the Royal cal Garden and the board meeting of the Florida (11/3 – 11/8) as a representa- Botanic Gardens, Kew, and to continue International Center for Tropical Botany. tive of the Smithsonian Scientific Diving his studies of Commelinaceae for Flora Jun Wen traveled to Shenzhen and Program to attend the Diving Equipment Zambesiaca, which covers the African Beijing, China (11/19 – 11/28) to attend & Marketing Association (DEMA) 2015 countries Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, planning meetings for the XIX Interna- Trade Show which featured diving safety Zimbabwe and Botswana, and the Caprivi tional Botanical Congress and the Journal seminars and diving equipment repair Strip of Namibia. of Systematics and Evolution, as Vice training. Vicki Funk traveled to Canberra, Aus- President of both groups. Laurence Dorr traveled to London, tralia (11/25 – 12/5) to present the opening Kenneth Wurdack traveled to St. England (11/28 – 12/12) with Rose plenary address at the annual conference Louis, Missouri (10/1 – 10/5) to conduct Gulledge to study herbarium specimens of the Australasian Systematic Botany research at the Missouri Botanical Garden. in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Society. Elizabeth Zimmer traveled to Baton Gardens, Kew, for a treatment of the genus Caroline Puente visited Wilkes-Barre, Rouge, Louisiana (10/14 – 10/16) to Pterygota (Malvaceae). Pennsylvania (10/15 – 10/16) as an advi- attend the dedication of the new endowed Ashley Egan traveled to Hunting- sor in the creation of a DNA Barcoding Shirley C. Tucker Herbarium and to attend ton, West Virginia (10/10 – 10/12) to program at Wilkes University. a mini-symposium at Louisiana State Alice Tangerini traveled to Miami, University. The Plant Press Florida (10/14 – 10/19) to lead a work- shop, present a portfolio showing, and New Series - Vol. 19 - No. 1 attend presentations and workshops at Chair of Botany ASBA 2015, the annual conference of the Laurence J. Dorr American Society of Botanical Artists. ([email protected]) Alain Touwaide and Emanuela Appetiti traveled to Baltimore (10/30) to EDITORIAL STAFF examine a 15th century medieval manu- Editor Gary Krupnick Visitors ([email protected]) Copy Editors Craig Costion, University of Adelaide, Kyra Stillman, University of Chicago; Robin Everly, Bernadette Gibbons, and Australia; DNA barcoding (11/3/14 DNA barcode project (10/5 - 12/14). Rose Gulledge -10/31/15). Patrica Barbera Sanchez, Real Jardín News Contacts Liang Zhao, Northwest Agriculture and Botánico de Madrid, Spain; Aveninae MaryAnn Apicelli, Rusty Russell, Alice Forestry University, China; Dichocarpum, (Poaceae) (10/16 - 12/30). Tangerini, and Elizabeth Zimmer Pulsatilla, Trollius (Ranunculaceae) and its close relatives (2/5/15-2/26/16). Wichman Chipper, National Tropical The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- Botanical Garden; Collaborative research vided free of charge. To receive notification of when new pdf issues are posted to the web, please Monica Carlsen, Missouri Botanical Gar- (10/20). subscribe to the listserve by sending a message den; Araceae and Zingiberales (2/17/15- to [email protected] containing only the Lynn Gillespie, Canadian Museum of following in the body of the text: SUBSCRIBE 2/16/17). PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname. Nature; Euphorbiaceae and Poaceae Replace “Firstname Lastname” with your name. Morgan Gostel, George Mason Univer- (10/20 - 10/28). If you would like to be added to the hard-copy sity; Compositae and GGI-Gardens project mailing list, please contact Dr. Gary Krupnick at: (9/1/15-8/31/17). Stephen Weller, University of California, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Irvine; Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae) pol- PO Box 37012, NMNH MRC-166, Washington, DC 20013-7012, or by E-mail: krupnickg@ Warren Cardinal-McTeague, Canadian lination biology (10/29 - 10/30). si.edu. Museum of Nature; Plukenetieae (Euphor- biaceae) (9/8-12/11). Rich Rabeler, University of Michigan; Web site: http://botany.si.edu/ Caryophyllaceae (11/4). Continued on page 5 Page 2 Seduced by an Herbarium hen I interviewed for my position as Curator identifying plants, introduce me to the curators, Chair of Botany here at the NMNH the director talk to me about their research, and invite me to the Wasked me why I became a botanist.