E. C. Smith Herbarium (ACAD) - Cape Breton University Collection

Ruth Newell1, Rodger Evans1, Steve McNeil2, Jennifer Richard3

1 Acadia University, 33 Westwood Avenue, B4P 2R6, Wolfville, Canada; 2 Wolfville, Canada; 3 Acadia University, Wolfville, Canada

Corresponding author(s): Ruth Newell (ruth.newell@acadiau.ca), Rodger Evans (rodger.evans@acadiau.ca)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Newell R (2018): E. C. Smith Herbarium (ACAD) - Cape Breton University Collection. v1.2. Acadia University. Dataset/Occurrence. http://data.canadensys.net/ipt/resource?r=cbu-specimens&v=1.2

Abstract

Today, the E. C. Smith Herbarium contains over 200,000 specimens, including vascular plants, bryophytes, and fungi. It is the largest herbarium in Atlantic Canada and the first Canadian herbarium to have a digital database with scanned images of the collection.
The Acadia Herbarium began as an initial gift to Dr. H. G. Perry of a small collection made by G. U. Hay of St. John, New Brunswick. Included in this collection were a few plants collected by J. Fowler of New Brunswick before he went to Queen's University. These first specimens were collected between 1868 and 1880. Some of the plants were cultivated and some were from the United States.
Subsequently, in these early years, the additions were made chiefly through the work of Dr. H. G. Perry and his students. No records were available until the collection numbered some 6,000 sheets. Included in the 6,000, however, are a number of sheets from the Gray Herbarium Expeditions to Nova Scotia in 1920 and 1921.
Of the specimens above the 6000 count, the majority have been added by the work of Dr. M. V. Roscoe and her students from 1928-1940 and Dr. H. P. Banks and his students from 1940-1946. In 1946 a large collection was being assembled by Mr. David Erskine, who catalogued the Flora of Wolfville and vicinity.
During Dr. E. C. Smith's tenure at Acadia (1947-1971) the number of specimens grew from 20,000 sheets to over 70,000. In 1970, Acadia University's Board of Governors announced that the department's excellent collection of plants would be named the E. C. Smith Herbarium as tribute to him for his contributions to the collection.

Keywords: Occurrence, Specimen, ACAD, E. C. Smith Herbarium, Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, Cape Breton University, Acadia University, Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, Vermont, collection, herbarium, specimens, Canadensys

Project details

Project title: E. C. Smith Herbarium Digital Repository
Personnel: Rodger Evans
Funding: Various; CFI

Data published through GBIF: http://data.canadensys.net/ipt/resource?r=cbu-specimens

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: This dataset includes all the Cape Breton University teaching collection that have been digitized, databased and geo-referenced.
Taxonomic ranks
Kingdom: Plantae
Class: Equisetopsida
Common names: Plants, Vascular Plants

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Primarily the Flora of the Acadian Forest Region. However, there are smaller collections within the herbarium that stem from research initiatives across the globe.
Coordinates: 42°33'36''N and 46°18'36''N Latitude; 74°7'12''W and 59°49'48''W Longitude 

Natural collections description

Parent collection identifier: ACAD
Collection name: Cape Breton University Herbarium
Collection identifier: CBU
Formation period: 1854-present
Specimen preservation method: Mounted

Methods

Method step description: Data are entered into the main database through in-house software, some of which is verified electronically (e.g. all taxonomic data using ITIS).
Study extent description: Digitization of Vascular plants from the Cape Breton University teaching collection with a focus on plants of the Acadian Forest Region.
Sampling description: All data are manually digitized as text from high resolution scans of each herbarium specimen.
Quality control description: Records are corrected on an ad hoc basis.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive E. C. Smith Herbarium (ACAD) - Cape Breton University Collection
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://data.canadensys.net/ipt/archive.do?r=cbu-specimens
Publication date of data: 2018-03-07
Language: English
Licences of use: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2018-01-26
Hierarchy level: Dataset