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Recent Topics Posters

Baghai-Riding, Nina [1], Fulgham, Ryan [2], Olivi, Bryan [3], Tiftickjian, John [4].

An Overview of the Delta State University Herbarium.

The Delta State University Herbarium (DSC), located on the campus of Delta State University, has been in existence since the 1930s. This collection was part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project to conduct floral and faunal surveys of the region. Currently, the collection contains more than 17,000 specimens from 35 states and eight countries. Although most of the specimens were collected from the southeastern United States with an emphasis on the Mississippi Delta, this collection contains rich geographic diversity, representing many different regions. For example, approximately 100 specimens come from Dr. R.L. Caylor’s “Ferns of Panama” study conducted in the late 1930s. The collection includes numerous historic records as well. More than 200 specimens were gathered by the prolific collector, Delzie Demaree (1889-1987). Over 600 specimens were collected by Harry Ahles, J.A. Duke, Arthur Radford, and other curators at the University of North Carolina in the late 1950s. These records were used to compile the Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas, published in the 1960s. Since the 1970s, multitudes of collectors including Charles Bryson, Sam Faulkner, Ken Gordon, Sid McDaniel, John MacDonald, Wayne Morris, Robert Stewart, and Ronald G. Wieland, as well as other herbarium stewards, professors, taxonomists, and students have contributed to this collection, which continues to grow. Overall, 207 families are contained in this collection. Most extensively represented are the Adoxaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Convovulaceae, Cyperaceae, Fabaceae, Fagaceae, and Poaceae. Six years ago, the Herbarium Project began. Data contained from more than 5,800 herbarium sheets have since been entered into a digital database using FileMakerPro 10. Digital photographs of more than 3,000 specimens have been taken for the DSC database as well as iDigBio (Integrated Digitized Biocollections) using Canon Image Capture and SilverImage cataloging software. The collection is regularly used in biological coursework at Delta State University, as research supplements, geographic confirmation of taxonomic locales, and for informative and fun community outreach.

Broader Impacts:


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Related Links:
Delta State University Herbarium website


1 - DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY, Division of Biological & Physical Sciences, Caylor Hall Room 235, CLEVELAND, MS, 38733, USA
2 - 917 9th Avenue, Cleveland, MS, 38732, USA
3 - Delta State University, Division of Biological & Physical Sciences, Cleveland, MS, 38733, USA
4 - DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY, Department of Biological Sciences, CLEVELAND, MS, 38733, USA

Keywords:
herbarium
iDigBio
Delta State University.

Presentation Type: Recent Topics Poster
Session: P
Location: Grand Salon A - D/Riverside Hilton
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2013
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PRT012
Abstract ID:1301
Candidate for Awards:None


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