Databases

The Conservatory and Botanical Gardens of the City of Geneva has developed a database called "Système d’informations botanique" (SIGB). This tool facilitates the management of scientific projects and herbarium collections as well as of the living collections.

List of our online databases:

The Herbarium Catalogue
→ direct access
Catalogue of the Hedwig types – Herbarium of bryophytes
→ >direct access
Flora del Paraguay (partly in Spanish)
→ direct access
Data base of African Flowering Plants
→ direct access
Catalogue of the lichens of Switzerland (in French)
→ direct access
Index Hepaticarum Names Database
→ direct access
Auxilium ad botanicorum graphicem (in French)
→ direct access
Botanical Databases non-CJB

The Herbarium Catalogue

With around 6 million specimens, the herbarium of the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens of the City of Geneva (CJB) is one of the most important in the World. Based on a long tradition of botanical research and exploration in Geneva dating back to the 18th century, the institution houses plants and fungi from all over the World, but in particular from the Mediterranean region, the Near and Middle East and South America as well as from the European flora. This virtual catalogue (SIGB) provides access to all databased specimens from our large herbarium collection.

Catalogue of the Hedwig types – Herbarium of bryophytes

During the International Botanical Congress of 1910, the 1801 publication of Johannes Hedwig, "Species Muscorum Frondosorum", was designated as the starting point for the nomenclature of mosses (bryophytes), excepting the Sphagnaceae. This virtual catalogue is a guide to the types, or possible types, present in the Hedwig herbarium in Geneva that have been entered into the SIBG database.

Data base of African Flowering Plants

This database, the fruit of a collaboration between the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens of the City of Geneva (CJB) and the “South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), regroups information on some 50,000 flowering plant species from continental Africa. It constitutes both a synonymic index and a source of information on the ecology and distribution of these species.

Catalogue of the lichens of Switzerland (in French)

The Catalogue of the Lichens of Switzerland collates the literature reports of all the lichens growing in Switzerland today. It is an updated and online version of the publication "Les champignons lichénisés de Suisse" that appeared in Cryptogamica Helvetica 19 in 2004, edited by Bryolich and sponsored by the Swiss Academy of Sciences. For each species the catalogue provides information on distribution at the cantonal level as well as within the natural zones of Switzerland, altitudinal distribution, ecology (substrate) and a list of publications where the presence of it in Switzerland was mentioned. This catalogue is the reference source that has been used to develop the project "Digital Lichen Flora of Switzerland at the CJB.

Index Hepaticarum Names Database

Index Hepaticarum lists all of the epithets of liverworts and hornworts published between the effective dates of the 1st May, 1753 (the date of the start of nomenclature for liverworts and hornworts) and the 31st December, 1973. The objective of this project is to facilitate research around the World on the taxonomy and the systematics of liverworts and hornworts, by providing access to names, authors, references and information on types. The series Index Hepaticarum (14 volumes in all) contains more than 30,000 epithets of specific and infraspecific rank published between 1753 and 1973. All of the species and sub-species names, published from 1974 onwards are contained in supplements complied by J. Engel (F). Collectively, this work represents an incomparable resource for liverwort and hornwort systematics around the World.

Auxilium ad botanicorum graphicem (in French)

This virtual catalogue contains examples of the handwriting of botanists that were published in journal Candollea between 1972-1979. These examples serve principally to assist researchers in the interpretation of hand-written notes and annotations in the herbarium. In general, the examples contain the signature and handwriting, in various languages, of each of the chosen botanists, as well as an example of a label from their personal herbarium. In addition to the handwritten examples, this catalogue provides biographical information on the botanist in question, including published reference/s on their biographies. Where possible, the location of their collections is provided using a simplified system of the codes in Index Herbariorum.

Botanical Databases non-CJB