Anamorphic fungi

The aim of the project

Partial digitisation of the BERN fungarium (BERN), anamorphic fungi, type specimens

The fungarium^Z+ZT of the United Zurich Herbaria contains a number of separate collections that have not yet been catalogued or have only been partially catalogued and can therefore only be used to a limited extent, if at all, for scientific purposes. It is part of our collection strategy to make the separate collections accessible, to record them in the NAHIMA object database and to integrate them into the main Fungarium collection.

Our largest separate collection is the fungal collection of the Bernese Herbarium (BERN). In addition to an extensive general systematic collection, it contains the specimens of important Swiss mycologists, notably Jakob Gabriel Trog, Gustav Otth and Eduard Fischer. With the help of the present project, parts of the Bernese collection are to be catalogued and digitised, in particular the so-called anamorphic fungi and specimens from Petrak's desiccate collection.

Description of the project

Our goal is to digitise approximately 5,000 specimens in the planned first digitisation phase from January to December 2025, of which approximately 4,400 are from BERN and 600 are type specimens of anamorph fungi from Z+ZT. The Bernese specimens represent about 20-25% of the as-yet unprocessed BERN separate collection; the type specimens from Zurich are not only linked to the Bernese specimens in terms of their subject matter, but are also of the greatest scientific value. The proposed project will allow us to catalogue and digitise a significant portion of the Bernese herbarium, and with the Zurich type specimens, we will be able to present further important specimens from the anamorphic fungi collection to the public in the NAHIMA object database.

The digitisation is carried out at the ‘DigiLabel’ level (photos of the labels) with subsequent entry of the digital copies and associated collection data in NAHIMA. Unlike the phytoparasitic fungi that have been catalogued so far, the names of the fungi in this project will not be taxonomically revised in advance.

Synergies and context

In order to be able to quickly access the very diverse separate collections in the Fungarium^Z+ZT, we are relying on the ‘mass digitisation’ of the specimens by photographing the labels (DigiLabel level of digitisation). In doing so, we prioritise the separate collections according to the criteria of state of preservation and documentation, scientific value and historical significance. Overall, the Bern Fungus Collection is given a high priority for processing according to all criteria.

With this project, we are initiating the comprehensive cataloguing of the fungal collection of the Bern Herbarium (BERN), which was donated to the ETHZ by the University of Bern. Furthermore, we are continuing the digitisation of the type specimens stored in the fungarium.

Time frame

1 January to 31 December 2025