Herbarium
The Herbarium of the University of Trieste (Herbarium Universitatis Tergestinae) is one of the 68 Italian herbaria internationally recognized in the Index Herbariorum with the acronym TSB.
It was established in 1961, together with the establishment of the Botanical Institute, which later merged into the Department of Biology and subsequently into the Department of Life Sciences. It houses specimens collected by Italian and foreign botanists, including institutional collections, exchanges, and donations.
It consists of a Phanerogamic Section with approximately 140,000 specimens and a Cryptogamic Section, further divided into the algological collection (about 5,400 specimens of soft and calcareous algae), lichenological collection (about 45,000 specimens, together with to a separate collection of 840 Antarctic lichens), bryological collection (about 1,000 specimens), and pteridological collection (about 2,500 specimens).
The digitization process of the collections began over 30 years ago, but has received a significant input in the past two years, thanks to substantial support from the smaTs. During the last two years, over 20,000 specimens from the phanerogamic collection have been digitized, and the publication online of previously digitized specimens in the form of open data has been facilitated.
