Digitalization of the collections of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University’s Herbarium (CWU)
The Herbarium of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (CWU) is one of the oldest and largest herbaria in Ukraine. It contains more than 300 thousand specimens. There are authentic specimens – the specimens which were used for the description of the new species. The Herbarium CWU is included in a worldwide index of herbaria (Index Herbariorum, New York). Since 2009, Herbarium CWU has been an object of the National Heritage of Ukraine.
In 2022, the scientists of the Department of Botany and Plant Ecology got a grant for digitalizing and publishing the historical part of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University’s Herbarium. They provided the project within the BioDATA Program with the financial support of the GBIF Secretariat, GBIF Norway, UiO Natural History Museum (Oslo, Norway).
In 2023, about 700 specimens from the historical part of the CWU Herbarium have been digitized. The collection "Exsiccatae Hepaticae Europaea" of the German botanist Gottlob L. Rabenhorst, dating from the middle of the 19th century, has been fully digitized. Our university is one of the three institutions in the world that has a complete collection of liverwort exsiccata of prof. G.L. Rabenghorst. This collection is currently available at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The published database contains information from herbarium labels and scans of specimens in high quality.
High-quality images of typical specimens from the CWU Herbarium are available at the International database JSTOR. Work on the digitization of the CWU Herbarium continues.
Contacts:
- Yuriy G. Gamulya, PhD, Associate Professor, herbarium curator:
E-mail: y.gamulya@karazin.ua
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9596-3894
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yuriy-Gamulya
- Heorhii M. Bondarenko, Lecturer:
E-mail: h.m.bondarenko@karazin.ua
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9936-3482
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heorhii-Bondarenko