Located in central Portugal, between the former provinces of Beira Alta and Beira Litoral, Serra do Caramulo reaches its highest point in Caramulinho, at 1074 m altitude. On this mountain there can be found a flora from diverse habitats, such as riparian galleries, deciduous forests and mountain meadows.
Photo by Filipe Covelo
381 Specimens
The immense diversity of algae, fungi and plants in Brazil is represented in the country's herbaria and in several foreign ones. The "National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT) Virtual Herbarium of Flora and Fungi in Brazil" is an initiative that proposes to integrate online, in a free and open way, information from herbarium collections in Brazil and abroad that have collections made in Brazilian soil.
photo: Marcelino Dias, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
741 Specimens
São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) is one of the most interesting biodiversity hotspots in the Gulf of Guinea, with a large percentage of endemisms.
The Herbarium of the University of Coimbra has one of the main flora collections from the archipelago since the 19th century, many of which were the very first specimens collected of their species. This important collection contains precious information on the rich plant diversity of São Tomé and Príncipe, that will be made public for the first time with this transcription project.
Photo: "Ikabanga - 1088 - São Tomé and Príncipe" - Thecacoris manniana (Müll.Arg.) Müll.Arg. Collected in Sao Tome and Principe by Lewis Eduardo (licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)
537 Specimens
The mint family includes aromatic plants widely used since ancient times. Many are used in the kitchen, others are ornamentals, and some are used in cosmetics and as medicines, the most common being basil, hyssop, lavender, marjoram, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme. The sweet aromatic smell is due to essential oils in glandular hairs present in most parts of the plant, but mainly the leaves.
211 Specimens
A few specimens of Convolvulaceae from Africa
Photograph by: Robert Lafond
126 Specimens
Family of major economic importance not only for its fruits but also for its ornamentals. Well-known edible fruits are very variable being drups (fleshy with a stone) as in apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach, plums, prune, almond; pomes as in apple, quince, pear, loquat; aggregates (with free carpels) as in blackberry, raspberry, strawberry. The beautiful tree Prunus lusitanica is widely planted as a hedge as are Spiraea, Cotoneaster, Pyracantha, Crataegus and some others. Rosa is the best-known ornamental species and there are many thousand hybrids and cultivars. Rose perfumes are made from rose oil, a mixture of essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals.
1103 Specimens
Saxifragaceae are plants primarily in the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic to temperate zones. Interestingly, they are also found in the tropical mountains. The family's center of diversity is in eastern North America, east Asia and the Himalayas. They are generally perennial herbaceous with mostly basal and often succulent leaves. The flowers, although small, are numerous, and several species are cultivated as ornamental.
241 Specimens
More than 60 plant families have succulents. But some of those are dominantly succulent, such as the Crassulaceae (lat. crassus = thick, fat) with thick, fleshy stems and leaves due to special water-storage tissues.
735 Specimens
Guinea-Bissau is a small tropical country (2.5 times smaller than Portugal) more than 20% of its territory being occupied by water. Mangroves thrive along the coast and river banks. There are also areas of rice paddies, sub-humid and dry forests, and inland savannas. Here, grasses play an important role. Those grasses that develop in the salty areas, with soil saturated with salt, where few species can survive, are also of major ecological importance.
379 Specimens
The wood of a leguminous tree native to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Paubrasilia echinata) was used early on for dyeing fabrics and became known in Europe as brazilwood. These lands, initially named Vera Cruz, became named after this plant, Brazil.
Fabaceae, or Leguminosae, is one of the families with the greatest diversity and it is the most diverse in Brazil. In this country there are c. 200 genera and 2800 species native belonging to this plant group with wide economic importance.
197 Specimens