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Exsiccata

Exsiccata (Latin, gen. -ae, plur. -ae) is a "published, uniform, numbered set[s] of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Exsiccatae are regarded as more or less creative works of the editors with characteristics from the library world (published booklets with authors/ editors, titles, fascicles) and features from the herbarium world (uniform and numbered collections of herbarium specimens). The text in the printed matters/ published booklets is basically a list of labels (schedae). There are several comprehensive bibliographies and treatments on exsiccatae devoted to algae, bryophytes and lichens , lichens and fungi. A bibliographic account on series devoted to vascular plants is missing. Starting with 2001 there is a web portal IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae with the goal to gather and provide bibliographic information on all types of exsiccatae and exsiccata-like series. Currently more than 2,200 series with more than 1,300 editors are known The editors are often well-known as taxonomists. In the case that they published exsiccatae, the series are explicitly cited in Frans Stafleu & Richard Sumner Cowan´s standard work Taxonomic Literature: A Selective Guide to Botanical Publications and Collections, with Dates, Commentaries, and Types (7 volumes) and in the 8 volumes of the supplement series with the first 6 co-authored by Erik Albert Mennega (see BHL library under https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/48631). How many issues (= sets) of an exsiccata is published and distributed is often unknown. In large institutional herbaria (see List of herbaria with Code), the exsiccatae are often not kept in their original sets, but each single numbered specimen unit is inserted in the general collections and filed under the current taxon name, e.g. in M and in HUH (FH).

Early history

Exsiccatae are also known under the terms exsiccatal series, exsiccata(e) series, exsiccatae collections, sometimes exsiccati, exsiccate. Furthermore, the feminine noun term "exsiccata" (Latin, gen. -ae, plur. -ae) for exsiccata series is often not clearly distinguished from the neuter noun "exsiccatum" (Latin, gen. -i, plur. -a) which is used in general for a dried herbarium specimen There exists also the Latin adjective "exsiccatus, -a, -um" meaning "dried" which is often part of a Latin title of an exsiccata, e.g. Lichenes exsiccati.

The eldest series known as an exsiccata is that of the German naturalist and pharmacist Johann Balthasar Ehrhart called Herbarium vivum recens collectum... It was distributed in 1732 , IndExs ExsiccataID=750703744. The plant material and text information is for the education of physician, pharmacists and teachers. With this goal, the system of exsiccatae is originated from herbarium books with images of plants and fungi, as distributed in the 16th and 17th century, see Herbarium vivum, but now contained dried and pressed plant material. Series with science focus followed few years later. One of that kind of series was published by the Swiss botanist Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart, a pupil of Carl Linnaeus, with the title Plantae cryptogamae Linn., quas in locis earum natalibus collegit et exsiccavit Fridericus Ehrhart. The first fascicle was delivered in 1785 (IndExs ExsiccataID=282243788). As one of the first Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart promoted the selling of dried plants with several series, among others Arbores, frutices et suffrutices Linnaei quas in usum dendrophilorum collegit et exsiccavit Fr. Ehrhart and Calamariae, Gramina et Tripetaloideae Linnaei, quas in usum botanicophilorum collegit et exsiccavit Fr. Ehrhart. (IndExs ExsiccataID=2097529087)

The majority of the 2,200 known exsiccatae appeared in the 19th century. They are often specialised on a single organism group or on a geographical region. Two examples: Alexander Braun, Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst and Ernst Stizenberger are distributing Die Characeen Europa's in getrockneten Exemplaren, unter Mitwirkung mehrerer Freunde der Botanik, gesammelt und herausgegeben von Prof. A. Braun, L. Rabenhorst und E. Stizenberger (IndExs ExsiccataID=1692955391) and Thomas Drummond (botanist) published Musci Americani; or, specimens of the mosses collected in British North America, and chiefly among the Rocky Mountains, during the Second Land Arctic Expedition under the command of Captain Franklin, R.N. by Thomas Drummond, Assistant Naturalist ... (IndExs ExsiccataID=905706240).

Some series are devoted to organisms of economical or medicinal relevance, and thus of interest for pharmacists, plant pathologists, veterinarians, people working in horticulture, agriculture and forestry. Felix von Thümen published some exsiccatal series of this kind, e.g., Herbarium mycologicum oeconomicum. (IndExs ExsiccataID=2339661)

Relevance in science

Exsiccatae are well-known reference systems in collection-based life science and biodiversity research. Especially in early, large and widely distributed series like, f.e., the Fungi Rhenani IndExs ExsiccataID=566312909 of Karl Wilhelm Gottlieb Leopold Fuckel many taxonomic novelities with type specimens (see Type (biology)) are among the 2700 numbered specimen units, now labelled as iso- or lectotypes.

ICBN/ ICN articles and exsiccatae

In the 19th century with mid of 20th century, exsiccatae played an important role in botany, mycology and binomial nomenclature. A lot of taxa were described with diagnosis in exsiccatae or exsiccatal-like specimen series using printed labels and schedae booklets for effective publication of the names. These printed matters are often so-called grey literature. In the Vienna rules (1906) of the ICBN, now International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), exsiccatae and their printed matters were explicitly mentioned in the context of valid publication (Article 37). With 1953 (under the Stockholm Code) the printed matters accompanying exsiccatae must be distributed independently of the exsiccatae for effective publication (see, e.g., Vienna Code 2006, Article 30.4). The recent code (Shenzhen Code 2018) does only mention exsiccatae explicitly but gives two exsiccatae as examples for effective publication under Article 30.8, Note 2. This correlates with the minor role that current exsiccatae play today with around 70 series running.

Herbarium digitization initiatives

Approximately 10 million of the 350 million botanical specimens in the major herbaria are belonging to the 2,200 widely distributed exsiccatae and exsiccata-like series. The specimens are either included in the general collections of the major herbaria or kept there as separate fascicles (see Index Herbariorum ). Thus, the series are explicitly addressed by joint advanced digitization projects of biodiversity collections like iDigBio. As a result most if the iDigBio web portals have a section for accessing specimens of exsiccatae, like the portal of the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria under Search Exsiccati (sic!).

Approaches like the Virtual herbarium are optimizing their label data capture with linking the specimen text information to standard abbreviations of the exsiccata series using examplary label images for disambiguation purposes. Citizen science approaches for herbarium label digitization have guidelines to recognize exsiccatae to mobilize this information in a structured manner.

Similar as iDigBio the concept for complete digitization of German herbaria is including the mobilisation of this structured historical information using a standard reference list of editors, titles, abbreviations, publication dates and number ranges. This procedure will facilitate the discovery of duplicate exsiccata specimens in the various herbaria and avoid multiple typing of the same text information. The mobilisation of this data is regarded as an example for creating synergies between institutional herbaria during the digitization process.

Exsiccata-like series

Ideally, exsiccatae comprize dried plant respectively fungus material, have a descriptive title, one or more editors (alternatively editing organisation), printed labels and the single dried specimens have printed schedae with numbers and are distributed in sets. Over the time and in the wide field of organismic botany and mycology with changing goals there were deviations in all aspects. There are exsiccata-like series distributing preserved natural objects other than dried herbarium material. Examples are, eg. glass slides with microorganisms, see Diatomacearum species typicae edited Hamilton Lanphere Smith, IndExs ExsiccataID=359129600 and slides of wood, see American Woods edited by Romeyn Beck Hough, IndExs ExsiccataID=345792896.

Especially within the 19th century some exsiccata-like series are known: Some are without descriptive titles, without mentioned editors, with labels which are in parts handwritten, series without sequential numbers and series whose sets are not uniform. This century saw the increase of the trade and exchange with plant material and more of 100 societies for these purposes were founded They were busy announcing new material in scientific journals like the journal Flora (Regensburg) and had various business models e.g. for selling exsiccatae and exsiccatae-like series. An example is the Unio Itineraria who financially supported the scientific voyages of Georg Wilhelm Schimper and distributed series with printed labels like Schimper, Unio Itineraria 1935, (see IndExs ExsiccataID=646135040) and others. Some modern definitions of the term exsiccata reflect the purpose of sale and subscription in delivering exsiccatae. The recipients and buyers were private plant collectors, as well as learned societies and institutional herbaria. Some of the series do not fulfill all of the criteria for being an exsiccata in its strong sense. Some might lack a descriptive title, have in parts handwritten labels with handwritten numbers, the distributed sets are not uniform and the specimens are not numbered.

One of the plant exchange associations which existed more than a hundred years was the Société Française pour l’échange des plantes vasculaires: 1911 to 2015. This organisation developed a network of plant collectors worldwide, elaborated guidelines for plant collectors and distributed a number of exsiccata-like series, partly numbered and with printed labels. The last exsiccata-like series edited by the Société pour l’Échange des Plantes vasculaires de l’Europe et du Bassin méditerranéen et correspondant finally distributed 20,000 specimen units of vascular plants and started in 1947. The last secretary and in this function editor of the series was Jacques Lambinion, IndExs ExsiccataID=878625024.