Cherbourg National Society of Nnatural Sciences and Mathematics / e-ReColNat Infrastructure

The Cherbourg National Society of Natural Sciences and Mathematics houses the Cherbourg Herbarium (CHE), a collection of about 200,000 specimens of phanerogams, mosses, algae, and fungi, representing one of the most important herbaria of Basse-Normandie. This learned society was founded on august 1st 1852, by astronomer, botanist, and explorer Emmanuel Liais (1826-1900), physicist Théodose du Moncel (1821-1884), and botanist Auguste Le Jolis (1823-1904).

The Cherbourg herbarium is essentially composed by the collections of two Norman botanists: those of Auguste Le Jolis, covering the second half of the 19th century, and those of Louis Corbière, covering the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. To these were added the Asselin and Nathan herbaria. This collection was used for the publication of the Nouvelle Flore de Normandie in 1893. These collections contain numerous of nomenclatural types; thus, consultations and loans are reserved exclusively to specialists.

The building housing the herbarium and library was built in 1909 thanks to legacies by E. Liais to the city of Cherbourg. More than 260 plant families, mainly from Europe, Africa, and North America, are presented in the collection. It also includes 137 type specimens. About 45,000 samples are computerized and available on online databases such as SONNERAT of the Museum, Explore on the RECOLNAT portal, and the Gbif.

The Cherbourg herbarium (CHE) was one of the first members of this federative database (SONNERAT). First, we focused on the restoration of the Phanerogams Corbière herbarium. The restoration and computerization of the 45,000 sheets were carried out by volunteers’ members of the Society, who were joined by members of the "Curieux de nature" association (Inquisitive by nature association).