National Botanical Conservatory of the Pyrenees and Midi-Pyrenees
The Herbarium of the National Botanical Conservatory (CBN) of Pyrenees and Midi-Pyrenees is internationally referenced (BBF).
Initially the property of the Natural History Museum of Bagnères-de-Bigorre, the collection was given by the City to the CBN that greatly enriched it through donations of private collections and collection deposit from public institutions. It encompasses patrimonial and scientific collections, as well as, historic and contemporary collections, dating from 1780 (Ramond Herbarium) to the present days (CBN Herbarium). We especially highlight the importance of the herbaria of: Ramond de Carbonnières (1755-1827), naturalist and politician precursor of Pyrenism ; of the shepherd-botanist of the Ossau valley, Pierrine Gaston-Sacaze (1797-1893) ; of Pierre Le Brun (1894-1970), observer of the rare and threatened flora of France ; of Jean Vivant, (1923-2010) particularly noteworthy for the Western Pyrenees and its foothills, welcomed in partnership with the South-Atlantic CBN.
Geographically, the focus of the BBF Herbarium collections widely exceeds the territory under the Conservation agreement of the CBN, as several collections contain specimens from the entire metropolitan France (Le Brun, Bosc and Vivant), and French territories overseas (Vivant).
Collections are being digitized and counted, depending on available means and materials needed for inventory and preservation activities of the CBN. They are mainly used for the permanent inventory of protected, rare, and threatened flora. The mining of past resources, such as bibliographies and herbaria, is a crucial effort to successfully plan new prospections in the field, that will help to trace and describe population already reported as precarious/ vulnerable.
The BBF Herbarium is available to researchers. It was consulted several times by Iberian “florists” for their work on the flora of the peninsula (publication of Flora Iberica). The recent genetic study of a rare sample of Naufraga balearica Constance & Cannon, 1967 helped shed light on the native status of this specie in Corsica.
Contacts
Gilles Corriol : gilles.corriol@cbnpmp.fr
Gerard Largier : gerard.largier@cbnpmp.fr
Conservation room of the BBF Herbarium, Ramond de Carbonnière Herbarium. © CBN des Pyrénées et de Midi-Pyrénées.
Exhibition of the J. Vivant Herbarium © CBN des Pyrénées et de Midi-Pyrénées.
Polystichum braunii, sheet of the P. Lebrun. Herbarium © CBN des Pyrénées et de Midi-Pyrénées.