University of Aix-Marseille

At the beginning of the 19th century, and with the establishment of the Marseille Botanical Garden, begin the composition of the “Herbarium of the Faculty of Sciences”. An impressive exchange network was thus set up with the most distinguished botanists of that time. The herbaria got enriched with successive legacies over time. Thus, The Herbarium of the University was able to capture :

1- The history of Marseille: a harbor open to the world in particular through privileged exchanges with former French territories overseas ;
2- The skills and the international influence of Provence’s naturalists at the beginning of the 19th century ;
3- The significant floristic richness of the PACA – Corsica regions, and of former French territories overseas.

For management purposes, the herbaria were divided in 2 sets: the evolutive herbaria in which new samples are regularly interspersed, and the sealed historical herbaria.

There are 6 evolutive herbaria:

• The General Herbarium of the World corresponds to the initial herbarium begun around 1820, when the Faculty was founded. On its own, it contains 343 lockers, 350 families, 2,700 genera and over 35,000 different species, often represented by several parts.
• The France Herbarium was built upon the L. Samat Herbarium. The various flora taxa are classified and numbered following the Catalogue des plantes de France, de Suisse et de Belgique by Camus (1888). Additions are made regularly to this Herbarium. At this time, it includes 218 bundles.
• The Herbarium of the Mediterranean France was recently reorganized from the P. Blanc Herbarium following the Catalogue of the Provence flora by H. Roux (1881). This Herbarium, regularly enriched, contains rare, threatened, and endemic species of the French Mediterranean area. It is thus a medium of great interest for scientific researches carried out on this flora. It includes 115 bundles.
• The cytogenetic Herbarium contains numerous control samples, from studies and collects of researchers from the former Plant Cytotaxonomy Laboratory, and the current team working on karyology. Comprising over 1,000 referenced samples, all the relative data of the herbarium are available on the Gbif portal. The cytotypes chromosomal number, as well as the herbaria control sample are also available. This collection mainly focusses on the research of links (often relatively close) among the different cytotypes, their morphology, their biogeographic distribution, and the history of the surveyed region.
• The general Herbarium of lichens was made by merging several herbaria, on the basis of the Taxis Herbarium. It contains about 2,000 references and is now available on the Gbif portal.
• The general Herbarium of bryophytes.

Historical herbaria can be filed into 2 geographical entities. On one hand the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region herbarium, from the 19th century which corresponds to the first flora and catalogs of “modern” Provence:

• Castagne Herbarium, Bouches-du-Rhône;
• H. Roux Herbarium, Provence;
• Molinier-Tallon Herbarium, Camargue;
• Delmas Herbarium, Provence;
• H. Ardoino Herbarium, Maritime Alps;
• Derbez Herbarium, Basses-Alpes;
• A. Lavagne Herbarium, Provence et Alps.

On the other hand, herbaria reflecting France’s colonial past and/or including French departments and territories overseas. These herbaria, spanning from the late 19th century and early 20th century, contain many types:

• Du Père Duss Herbarium, Antilles;
• Jumelle-Perrier de la Bathie Herbarium, Madagascar;
• Jacob de Cordemoy Herbarium, La Réunion;
• Zenker Herbarium, Cameroon, Gabon;
• Boery Herbarium, Mauritania, Mali, Sudan;
• Peunel et Metzger Herbarium, New Caledonia;
• North America Herbarium.

Contact
Bruno Vila : bruno.vila@univ-amu.fr

Ravenea madagascariensis Becc. Collected by Perrier de la Bathie and studied by H. Jumelle at the botany laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences of Marseille. Jumelle-Perrier de la Bathie Herbarium, Madagascar – MARS herbarium – University of Aix-Marseille.
©B.VILA-AMU

Michauxia laevigata Vent. Control sample collected by J. Contandriopoulos in Iran in 1977, used for attachment in the field, and for which the chromosomal number was counted. Herbarium of France – MARS herbarium – University of Aix-Marseille. ©B.VILA-AMU

Euodia segregis Cordemoy. Holotype from the Jacob de Cordemoy Herbarium Herbarium used in the making of the flora of La Réunion island. Jacob de Cordemoy Herbarium, La Réunion. – MARS herbarium – University of Aix-Marseille. ©P.LAFAITE-MNHN