Abstract Detail

Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization

The Leo A. Galloway Herbarium at Missouri Western State University- showcasing floralspecimens from North West Missouri and adjacent areas.

An herbarium is a critical resource for biodiversity, and ecological and evolutionary research
studies. The Leo A. Galloway herbarium housed in the biology department at Missouri Western
is comprised of dried, preserved and annotated specimens of over 3000 valuable plant species,
particularly native to the mid-western United States. The herbarium collection is maintained and
stored in Agenstein Hall in the biological sciences department. Dr. Leo A. Galloway, a former
biology faculty, was a plant taxonomist and he worked on the genus Abronia, which belong to
the Nyctaginaceae family. Dr. Galloway established the herbarium in 1972 and most of the
specimens in the herbarium were collected by him. Most of the Leo A. Galloway Herbarium
collections are from the midwestern United States, specifically northwest Missouri. So far, we
have catalogued more than 10 gymnosperm families, 13 monocot families and more than 65
eudicot families in our herbarium (~ 1500 herbarium specimens), to complete work on the entire
collection comprising of approximately 3000 plant specimens, housed within it. Our goal is to
continue working on cataloging, databasing and circumscribing the taxonomical definitions of
the remaining ~1500 specimens in our herbarium, to be indexed into the Index Herbarium,
maintained by the New York Botanical Garden’s William and Lynda Steere Herbarium. Future
plans involve collaborative initiatives towards digitizing the specimens, and building a website
showcasing the entire collection, with a link to access it virtually through Missouri Western’s
biology department’s website. In a world of virtual research and learning, this will prove to be
immensely valuable.

1 - Missouri Western State University, Biology Department, 4525 Down Drive, Saint Joseph, MO, 64507, United States

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Poster
Number: PBI004
Abstract ID:385
Candidate for Awards:None