Jean Baptiste d'Allard Museum. Montbrison / e-ReColNat Infrastructure

The d’Allard Museum houses, among other things, natural history collections (mineralogy, botany, zoology, and specialized publications). Three herbaria are preserved there.

The Herbarium assigned to Jean-Baptiste d’Allard

Jean-Baptiste d’Allard (1769 - 1848), founder of the Cabinet of curiosities, built most of his collection between 1815 and 1835.

It contains 10 bundles severely damaged (about 500 pieces in fair condition). Geographic coverage: the Alps, Lyon area, Auvergne. Constitution period: late 18th and early 19th centuries. Classification: system of Linnaeus (more or less classified).

The region of origin is often referenced. Drawings were made to illustrate some families. Plants are framed with a red border. We can assign it to Mr d’Allard because of the exotic essences’ presence that he could have collected in his garden. Historical interest for the presence of Latin polynomials and binomials.

The Camille Méhier Herbarium

It contains : - 18 numbered bundles, 2 large storage boxes which have yet to be sorted and classified (about 2,000 pieces). All in good condition. Geographical coverage: Loire and south-eastern France.
Constitution period : 1880-1905.
Particularities: for Loire, Méhier put the label “Plantes de la Loire” (Plants from Loire). There is also a nearly complete handwritten inventory, different from the one written by the author.

6 bundles, with a bigger one for the lichens (300 pieces for 600 species), in good condition. Geographic coverage: Loire, France, and Italy.
Constitution period: 1884-1904 (with some dates prior to 1884).
A worn volume called Fleurs horticoles (200 pieces), is well preserved.
Geographic coverage: few information, sometimes ” Jardin Botanique de Montpellier” (Montpellier botanical garden)
Constitution period: late 19th - early 20th century.

The Herbarium of brother Victor

It is a smaller herbarium which is of local interest (Monts du Forez, Massif Central, 20th century). The computerization and digitization of these herbaria have been underway since 2011. Justin Galtier and Andrine Faure worked on those herbaria providing a better scientific knowledge.