Exsiccatae in the bryophyte collection of the National Herbarium, Pretoria

Abstract

Exsiccatae in the bryophyte collection of the National Herbarium in Pretoria (PRE) are catalogued for the first time. Most of the 66 series represented in PRE were issued in Europe, but the USA is the country where the largest number of exsiccatae originated. The exsiccatae span three centuries, with the earliest specimens issued in 1845 and the latest in 2009. This indicates the long-standing exchange of material and transfer of knowledge between herbaria in South Africa and countries of the northern Hemisphere. Many of the exsiccatae in PRE are incomplete and specimens were received as duplicates in exchange sets rather than exsiccatae. PRE houses a number of important African and southern hemisphere exsiccatae including two different sets of A. Rehmann’s Musci Austro-Africani (1875–1877) and Musci Austro-Africani cont., and R. Ochyra’s Bryophyta Antarctica exsiccata.