The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Herbarium is a unit of the Karisoke Research Center, a research institute and program of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park. It was founded by Dian Fossey on 24 September 1967 to study endangered mountain gorillas. Fossey located the camp in Rwanda's Virunga volcanic mountain range, between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke, and named it by combining the names of the two mountains.

Today, Karisoke continues to upgrade its capacity for scientific research through new technology and new partnerships with local authorities and other conservation organizations. Recently, comedian Ellen DeGeneres plans to help build a permanent home in Rwanda for the work of the Fossey Fund to protect critically endangered mountain gorillas. The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Fossey Gorilla Fund is to be a permanent, specially designed facility for scientists who are helping to save mountain gorillas.

Contact: Marie Fidele Tuyisenge (mtuyisenge@gorillafund.org)

Home Page: https://gorillafund.org/karisoke-research-center/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: 923f7ab7-ee1c-45fe-93e9-ad02552fabde

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Karisoke Research Center

Access Rights: Public Domain

Contact: Jean Claude Mwanga Mwanga Ithe, Administrator (mwangaithe@yahoo.fr)

Home Page: http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/herbarium-details/?irn=167331

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles

Access Rights: Public Domain

About 20,000 specimens.

Contact: Joel Ndayishimiye (joel.ndayishimiye@ub.edu.bi)

Home Page: http://www.ub.edu.bi/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Burundi

Access Rights: Public Domain

Reptilian specimen collecting fieldwork and training was conducted from 23 August - 4 September, 2021. Several sites were visited and sampled within the Nyungwe National Forest including: the Kamiranzovu wetland; Swamp between Karamba and Kamiranzovu swamps southern edge; Bigugu Trail, and Kamiranzovu Trail, Isumo waterfall Trail, and Kitabi Creek. Specimens were collected in duplicate sets when possible to be deposited in Sekenberg Musuem of Zoology, Germany. Specimens deposited in the NHR are planned to be digitized and published online.
Funding provided by the Volkswagen Foundation.

Contact: Mapendo Mindje (majulesdor@gmail.com)

Home Page: http://www.coebiodiversity.ur.ac.rw

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: 1d792534-d61b-4c4c-a0b4-a81cd2bfcd10

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: , CC BY-NC 4.0 International (Attribution Non-Commercial)

Small mammal specimen collecting fieldwork and training was conducted from 7-20 August 2022. Several sites were visited and sampled within the Nyungwe National Forest including; Kamiranzovu Trail, Rukuzi Trail, Bweyeye Road at Busoro River, Uwasenkoko, Gasare, Ndambarare, Nyabishwati Trail, Uwinka Road, Ndambarare Waterfall, and Uwasenkoko. Specimens were collected in duplicate sets when possible to be deposited into the Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK), Germany. Specimens deposited in the NHR are planned to be digitized and published online.
Funding provided by the Volkswagen Foundation.

Contact: Methode Majyambere and Michael B. Thomas (michaelbthomas@gmail.com)

Home Page: http://www.coebiodiversity.ur.ac.rw

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: a99b0156-b005-4d53-8f80-895b07342c06

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: CC BY-NC 4.0 International (Attribution Non-Commercial)

The range of mushroom biodiversity gathered in the different ecosystems (savanna, woodland, montane forest, and exotic tree plantations) of Rwanda has been understudied. However, recent research has focused on the inventory of wild edible mushrooms in Rwanda focusing on their sustainable exploitation and their potential for cultivation. Wild mushrooms constitute an interesting and under-exploited resource in Rwanda.

We have also created a Fungi of Rwanda project for citizen scientists on the iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fungi-of-rwanda

Contact: Emmanuel Munyaneza, Institute of National Museums of Rwanda and Michael B Thomas (munyaneza4@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://coebiodiversity.ur.ac.rw/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: Public Domain

There are a total of 178 lichenized fungi and four lichenicolous fungi known from Rwanda. The first compilation of the lichen flora of Rwanda was completed in 2007.

Contact: Raymond Umazekabiri (umraymond@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://coebiodiversity.ur.ac.rw/?q=national-herbarium-rwanda-alive-university-rwanda

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: Public Domain

The National Herbarium of Rwanda was founded in 1965 during the Belgian colonial period as part of the Institut de Recherche Scientifique en Afrique Centrale (IRSAC) which later became the Institut de Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (IRST) and subsequently the National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA). It was officially transferred to the University of Rwanda in August 2018 to preserve the collection. The collection was moved and rehoused in a repurposed building at the University of Rwanda, Huye and reopened in December 2018. During 2019 the herbarium specimens were databased and an emphasis on digitizing the collection has been prioritized.

Presently, the herbarium holds more than 22,500 plant specimens with major plant collectors including G. Troupin, G. Bouxin, M. Radoux, G. Michel, B. Runyinya, P. Auquier, P. Van der Veken, J. Mvukiyumwami, J. Raynal, J. Lambinon, A.R. Christiaensen, and P. Bamps. It serves as a national reference centre and research is primarily focused on plant taxonomy, distribution, plant use and the conservation of Rwanda and East African plants. Investigation in plant distribution has been based on specific forest inventory and landscape surveys. A library collection is housed in the herbarium and serves as an indispensable research source. The Herbarium staff offer plant identification service which can be used by local and international researchers as well as by interested members of the public.

The herbarium collection includes a small seed collection, specimens of lichens, ferns and lychophytes (mosses) and flowering plants. The primary objective is to preserve the accessioned specimens for long term storage and to maintain representative specimens of the complete flora of Rwanda.

Contact: Sandrine Uwase, Pascal Sibomana, and Michael B Thomas (herbariumNHR@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://herbariumrwanda.ur.ac.rw/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: f0ead043-217a-4cd4-9f4a-11e824cb8da2

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: Public Domain

This dataset represents repatriated type specimen data.

Contact: Vedaste Minani, Curator (minaved2005@gmail.com)

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: Public Domain

Situated in Huye district, Southern Province, Ruhande Arboretum is a 200-hectare forest that was planted in 1933 on Ruhande hill and it surrounds the former National University of Rwanda (currently University of Rwanda (UR), Huye Campus. Established by the Belgians in 1934, this attractive and peaceful arboretum is a great place to learn about African flora while indulging in a bit of leafy shade. The living collection is made up of 148 deciduous species and 56 conifers, encompassing a mixture of exotic and indigenous species. It is also home to a number of animal species including monkeys, gazelles, birds, bats, and lots of insects.

Contact: Vedaste Minani (minaved2005@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://www.cass.ur.ac.rw/Ruhande-Arboretum

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: dcecb7b1-37b0-4163-8c95-e0072e8283bc

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Rwanda Environment Management Authority

Access Rights: Public Domain

This is a historic specimen collection used for teaching in the Botany Laboratory.

Contact: Mchael B Thomas (michaelbthomas@gmail.com)

Home Page: http://www.coebiodiversity.ur.ac.rw

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: 19ed6ff6-de79-4213-8729-bd9b8e8efce4

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: Public Domain

The field school hosted by CoEB Rwanda at University of Rwanda will be held at Nyungwe National Park, in collaboration with African Parks and Rwanda Development Board (RDB). The aim is to build capacity in biodiversity sampling, collections management and taxonomy. The CoEB a knowledge management hub making biodiversity data available for decision making. The plant and fungi collecting team included Jean J. Cyubahiro, M. Cikuru Kizungu, Emmanuel Munyaneza, E. Ndayishimiye, Donath Nkurikiyimana, Samuel Nshutiyayesu, Pascal Sibomana, Michael B. Thomas, and Aimee Sandrine Uwase. Collecting occured in Nyungwe National Park from August 23-28th.

Contact: Michael B. Thomas (herbariumNHR@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://www.rwandaherbarium.net

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal

Global Unique Identifier: eb90d882-2c4f-47f9-9d54-9e4e3a54fa90

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Orchids are well documented in Rwanda but understudied. The mission of this collection is to initiate an ex-situ collection for research.

Contact: Sandrine Aimee Uwase, Center of Excellence in Biodiversity & Natl Res Management (CoEB) (usandry8@gmail.com, Sandrine Aimee Uwase)

Home Page: https://coebiodiversity.ur.ac.rw

Collection Type: General Observations

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of Rwanda

Access Rights: Public Domain

Contact: Michael B. Thomas (michaelbthomas@gmail.com)

Home Page: https://www.idigbio.org/portal/search

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Public Domain

The Meise Botanic Garden is located in the grounds of Bouchout Castle in the town of Meise, just north of Brussels in the province of Flemish Brabant. It is one of the largest botanical gardens in the world with an extensive collection of living plants in addition to a herbarium of over 4 million specimens. The current garden was established in 1958 after it moved from the centre of Brussels; the former site is now the Botanical Garden of Brussels. Researchers at the garden conduct research particularly on Belgian and African plants.

The Botanic Garden contains about 18,000 plant species - about 6% of all known plant species of the world. Half are in greenhouses, the other half, including cultivated and indigenous plants, are outdoors. The gardens are grouped around the castle and lake of the Bouchout domain.

The institution was previously called the National Botanical Garden of Belgium, but was renamed Botanic Garden Meise in 2014.The management of the collections at the National Botanic Garden of Belgium was transferred from the Federal to Flemish Government on 1 January 2014. This has resulted in a number of changes, including the name of the institute that has officially become

Contact: Ann Bogaerts, Head of the Herbarium (ann.bogaerts@botanicgardenmeise.be or curator)

Home Page: http://www.botanicalcollections.be

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Meise Botanic Garden

Access Rights: Public Domain

The Missouri Botanical Garden's Herbarium is one of the world's outstanding research resources for specimens and information on bryophytes and vascular plants. The collection is limited to these two major groups of plants. As of 2018 the collection has nearly 7 million specimens. It is the second largest herbarium in the United States and one of the largest in the world.

Contact: James Solomon, Curator of Vascular Plants (jim.solomon@mobot.org)

Home Page: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plant-science/plant-science/resources/herbarium.aspx

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

The Museum national d'Histoire naturelle ranks among the world's foremost natural history institutes and has one of the most extensive plant collections, known as the Paris Herbarium. The herbarium includes more than 11 million specimens, collected from all over the world, including some very important collections from as early as the 16th century. Historical collections such as those of Jussieu and Lamarck, as well as the general collections, are particularly rich in type specimens of taxa described since the time of Linnaeus. This important research facility is open to international research efforts aimed at understanding and protecting the earth's biodiversity and promoting sustainable development and researchers from around the world visit the museum to consult the types and other specimens necessary for their research in taxonomy and other aspects of botany.

Contact: Vanessa Invernon, Collections Manager (vanessa.invernon@mnhn.fr)

Home Page: http://colhelper.mnhn.fr/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Museum Nationale d'Historie Naturelle

Access Rights: Public Domain

The NHN herbarium database incorporates data from various sources. A majority of records relate to specimens held at one of the NHN herbaria (AMD, L, U & WAG). The database also contains records of duplicates sent to other herbaria, specimens databased for taxonomic revision or from areas of special interest to NHN, for instance Gabon. The four NHN herbaria each have their own focus. Leiden (L) is by far the largest of the three, with c.4 million specimens, is well-known for its extensive collections from South-East Asia, especially from Indonesia and New Guinea. It also holds a large collection of palearctic plants and is the principal herbarium for Dutch plants. As the oldest Dutch herbarium, it also contains several historic collections, some of them probably the oldest herbarium collections still in existence. The former herbarium of Utrecht University (U), has a strong focus on tropical America, especially the Guianas and the Netherlands Antilles. It has around 700,000 collections. The former herbarium of the Biosystematics Group of Wageningen University (WAG) houses c. 900,000 specimens. It focuses on tropical Africa, with particular emphasis on material from the rain forests of west and central Africa, but it also holds an important collection of Ethiopian plants. Since Wageningen has its origin in an Agricultural University, WAG also contains many cultivated plants. WAG contains one historical collection that is curated separately: The Clifford Herbarium

Contact: Christel Schollaardt, Head of Collection (Christel.Schollaardt@naturalis.nl)

Home Page: http://herbarium.naturalis.nl/nhn/searc/advanced

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Access Rights: Public Domain

Within its extensive holdings, approximately 5.6 million specimens in the Steere Herbarium are vascular plants, 1 million are bryophytes (mosses and hepatics)

Contact: Barbara Thiers, Patricia K. Holmgren Director of the Herbarium, Vice President for Science Administration (bthiers@nybg.org)

Home Page: http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/vh/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: The New York Botanical Garden

Access Rights: Public Domain

Funded as a government institution in 1841; Kew herbarium and library founded in 1852. Around 7 million vascular plant specimens (including approximately 330,000 types) and 1.25 million fungi specimens. This dataset has been updated to follow the APG IV system.

Contact: Alan Paton, Head of Collections (a.paton@kew.org)

Home Page: https://apps.kew.org/herbcat/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Royal Botanic Garden

Access Rights: Public Domain

Contact: Curator (SNH@si.edu)

Home Page: https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: National Museum of Natural History

Access Rights: Public Domain

The collections have their origin in the curiosity cabinets of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1739, but have grown over the years by collecting, and by acquisition of scientifically important collections. Today the collections comprise some 3 million specimens, which are divided into three herbaria: The Nordic herbarium keep material from the Nordic countries, but such material can also be found in elsewhere. A page with shortcuts to nordic material can be used to facilitate the search. The Regnellian herbarium keep material from South- and Central America. The General herbarium house the plant material from all other parts of the world.

Contact: Arne Anderberg, Director of Botany (arne.anderberg@nrm.se)

Home Page: http://www.nrm.se/english/researchandcollections/botany/collections.565_en.html

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: Swedish Museum of Natural History

Access Rights: Public Domain