JSTOR Global Plants

JSTOR Global Plants
source
Name	JSTOR Global Plants
Type	Digital archive
Subject	Herbaria, botanical research, type specimens
Language	English
Country	United States
Established	2003
Provider	ITHAKA

JSTOR Global Plants JSTOR Global Plants is a specialized digital archive that aggregates botanical type specimens, taxonomic literature, and archival materials to support plant systematics and botanical history. The resource aggregates content from major herbaria, botanical gardens, university collections, and museums to facilitate research by taxonomists, curators, and historians. It functions as a curated hub linking specimen images to protologues, floras, and correspondence from leading figures in natural history.

Overview

The platform brings together high-resolution specimen images and primary literature spanning institutions such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Harvard University Herbaria, and University of Oxford. Contributors include the Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Field Museum of Natural History, and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Content origins extend to collections associated with collectors and taxonomists like Charles Darwin, Joseph Banks, Alfred Russel Wallace, Carl Linnaeus, and Gregor Mendel. The archive supports linking to works by authors and institutions tied to botanical exploration such as Alexander von Humboldt, Joseph Dalton Hooker, John Sibthorp, Aimé Bonpland, and Ernst Haeckel.

Collections and Content

The repository houses type specimens, isotypes, syntypes, holotypes, and lectotypes from herbaria including Kew Herbarium, Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Farlow Herbarium, Australian National Herbarium, National Herbarium of the Netherlands (L)],], Herbarium Berolinense (B) and collections from University of Michigan Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley, Yale University Herbarium, and California Academy of Sciences. It pairs specimen imagery with taxonomic publications such as the Flora of China, Flora Europaea, Curtis's Botanical Magazine, and monographs produced by the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, Botanical Society of America, and the Royal Society. Archival materials include correspondence, field notebooks, expedition reports, botanical illustrations, lithographs, plant portraits, and florilegia tied to expeditions like those of James Cook, Lewis and Clark Expedition, Vernay-Faunthorpe Expedition, and collectors like Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and Robert Brown. The content spans geographic foci from the Amazon Rainforest through the Cape Floristic Region, Siberia, Madagascar, Himalayas, and the Mediterranean Basin.

Access and Licensing

Access is structured through institutional subscriptions, consortium agreements, and site licenses involving universities, botanical gardens, and research libraries such as Princeton University, University of California system, Cornell University, University of Oxford, and Stanford University. Licensing arrangements are negotiated with content-owning institutions including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Natural History Museum, London, and regional herbaria such as Herbarium Bogoriense and National Herbarium of Victoria. Usage terms reflect agreements that balance researcher access with rights held by contributing bodies including the Biodiversity Heritage Library partners, national libraries like the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and archival repositories at institutions such as The Huntington Library and Yale Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

History and Development

The initiative developed through collaborations among library consortia, botanical institutions, and digital scholarship programs including Ithaka S+R, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and projects affiliated with JSTOR's broader digitization efforts. Early partnerships involved the Missouri Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, alongside academic centers like Harvard University, University of Michigan, and University of Cambridge. The program expanded with support from grantors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and philanthropic donors including the Packard Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Development phases intersected with digitization standards advanced by organizations like the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities and metadata work from the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) community.

Research and Educational Uses

Researchers in systematics, phylogenetics, conservation biology, and historical botany use the archive to verify nomenclature, examine type material, and trace botanical provenance in studies involving taxa described by Linnaeus, Robert Brown, George Bentham, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and Ernst Georg Pritzel. Educators at institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, University of Cambridge, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and Keble College use collections for teaching specimen-based taxonomy, digitization methods, and the history of science. Projects in digitization, crowdsourcing transcription, and data mobilization have linked the archive to initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, iDigBio, Encyclopedia of Life, and citizen science platforms supported by museums including the Natural History Museum, London and the Smithsonian Institution.

Technical Infrastructure and Digitization Processes

Digitization workflows rely on high-resolution imaging systems, metadata schemas, and content management practices drawn from library technology stacks at partners such as Harvard Library, Yale University Library, British Library, and Library of Congress. Protocols incorporate imaging standards used by institutions like the New York Botanical Garden and the Field Museum, and metadata mapping aligned with schemas advocated by Biodiversity Heritage Library and GBIF. Preservation and delivery employ digital asset management systems integrated with discovery platforms used by research libraries including Princeton University Library and Stanford University Libraries, and leverage interoperability with aggregators such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the HathiTrust Digital Library. Technical collaborations have involved vendors and service providers engaged by collections at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, Smithsonian Institution, and university libraries worldwide.

Category:Digital herbarium