Digital herbarium

Everything is virtual 

Herbaria are becoming more and more digitised. Digitisation allows for quick and easy access to the specimens. Anyone anywhere in the world can view both images and data. Collecting data suddenly becomes a lot easier. 

By setting up this digital herbarium, Meise Botanic Garden wants to open the door to the valuable botanical collections that our institute houses, while also offering other institutions, in Belgium or elsewhere in the world, the opportunity to make their collections better known and more visible via the same platform: www.botanicalcollections.be .

How does it work?

Our specimen data and images can be downloaded for free, including the high resolution TIFFs. All specimen images and data have a CC-0 license.

Citing of these specimens is done using the permanent URL that can be found just below the scientific name. For example: https://www.botanicalcollections.be/specimen/BR0000027642375V 

Our digitised collection can also be found on GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, a platform that allows users to freely and openly access vast amounts of information on biodiversity, thereby promoting scientific research.

Using our collection

Digitisation on request

If certain parts of our collection are not yet available online, we can, in consultation with the scientist, make these images available digitally on our virtual herbarium. 

How to contact us? curator@botanicgardenmeise.be