The Palermo collections consist of two separately administered but closely interlinked parts: the Herbarium Mediterraneum (PAL), which includes the historically important Herbarium Siculum and also the books and journals received in exchange for OPTIMA’s own journals, Flora Mediterranea and Bocconea; and the Herbarium Greuter with its associated library (PAL-Gr), donated to Palermo by OPTIMA’s co-founder and past president, Werner Greuter.
The Greuter Herbarium
At the beginning of 2013, the holdings of the Greuter herbarium consisted of a general collection (55,000 specimens), the herbarium of Father Pierre Gave, acquired ca. 1970 (ca. 30,000 specimens, mainly SW-European), that of Dr. Antoine Bras, acquired in 2008 (ca. 30,000 specimens, mainly S France), and the main duplicate set of the Herbarium Phitos & Kamari (6,800 specimens from Greece). The total number of mounted and inventoried specimens was about 64,000, the estimated total, of > 120,000.
In 2013 the important donation of the well known Greek botanist Leonidas Pinatzi of ca. 25,000 specimens, not counting duplicates was offered to PAL-Gr. Other accessions, through purchase, gifts, exchange and own collecting activity, totalled ca. 10,000 specimens during the last triennium, so that the estimated total holdings now approach 160,000 specimens, of which over 90,000 are now mounted and inventoried.
High-resolution digital images of selected portions have been taken, and more are being added, that can be viewed at: http://147.163.105.223/herbarium_vsimple_en.asp
The Herbarium PAL-Gr welcomes additions of well prepared and well labelled specimens, particularly from the Mediterranean area. Refund of mailing costs is possible when required. Also, exchange is encouraged.
The Library
The library associated with PAL-Gr is focused on floras and revisions world-wide, with emphasis on Mediterranean countries and Mediterranean-climate areas. It also holds Greuter’s reprint collection, all books reviewed by him in the OPTIMA Newsletter, and runs of numerous journals.
In the triennial 2013-2015, the library has grown substantially through purchase and gifts. A list of recently donated books can be seen at OPTIMA’s Web site (https://www.optima-bot.org/herbarium/library.htm), and notices or reviews have been published both on the Web (https://www.optima-bot.org/Rec_publ/) and in recent issues of the OPTIMA Newsletter. As per now, inventorying the library holdings has been completed, and binding is in progress.
Other activities
Some funds have been (and can be) made available toward subsidising visits to PAL-Gr for the purpose of studying its collections, or collecting expeditions when one series of the collected material is being deposited in PAL-Gr. Please enquire.
