The mallow family in Belgium:
Mostly herbs but also some shrubs and trees make up this family. In Belgium, three genera are represented in the wild: Abutilon, Althaea, and Malva. The round fruits “sliced in portions”, mainly in species of the genus Malva, are similar to little cakes. Many species are planted in our gardens and parks. Among those, species and cultivars of Hibiscus are likely the most commonly found. One of the first cultivated plants in the world belongs to the Malvaceae, namely cotton: different species of this genus (Gossypium) were cultivated for their fibres already in the antiquity but independently from each other in Asia, Africa, and South America. To this day, cotton is still the most used natural fibre in the textile industry.
The Belgian Herbarium:
Meise Botanic Garden holds the largest herbarium collection of Belgian plant specimens. Each of these herbarium specimens has a label with valuable information such as the plant’s identification, and when, where, and who collected the plant. These specimens can be used in many domains of research, such as conservation, evolution, ecology and systematics. These data help us to better understand the plants of Belgium, their history and that of people who collected them. There are about 200,000 specimens in the Belgian Herbarium of Meise Botanic Garden and we want to document them all! These data will then be made available online at www.botanicalcollections.be.
Keywords (Latin):
Belgium, Malvaceae, Herbae, Hortus Botanicus Meise, Botanica.
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