HERBARIA OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AGRICULTURE VALTICE

HERBARIA OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AGRICULTURE – VALTICE

The Valtice branch of the National Museum of Agriculture manages three groups of herbaria. The first includes works made around the 1930s with focus on the flora of Czechoslovakia (its forests, villages, meadows, weeds, and grasses). The specimens are glued to paper along their entire length, and their labels bear the logo of the Municipal Museum of Natural Sciences in Olomouc.

The second group consists of grasses and decorative woody plants collected in 1850 and 1930. The 1930 collection does not have labels: plants are identified only by hand-written notes in pencil, and the collection is dated only on the cardboard folder in which the leaves are kept. Apparently, this should be the so-called Seidl herbarium (the folder bears an inscription ‘perhaps Seidl’s’), which probably refers to Wenzel Benno Seidl (1773–1842), a Czech-Austrian botanist and entomologist. On the other hand, Seidl died in 1842, which means he cannot have collected items gathered either in 1850 or in 1930. Even so, it is assumed that the part of the collection dated to 1930 has some connection with the Seidl family.

The third group of herbaria kept in Valtice consists of specimens of berry-bearing shrubs and fruit trees represented by their leaves: the set includes raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, currants, apple trees, hazelnut trees, and medlars. Unfortunately, no accompanying information regarding the creator and dating survives. Most leaves are attached to the paper by a paperboard strip.