Year of Botany Collections Database at the Academy of Natural Sciences
Following her ethnobotanical research in the Ban Chiang region of Thailand in the early 1980’s, Dr Joyce White brought back to the United States over a thousand dried and preserved plant specimens. Like too much archaeological data, this collection languished within archives until 2024, when with the help of international scholars, interns, volunteers, and colleagues at the Penn Museum, they were given the opportunity to be brought back into the light of scientific research. 2024, coined the Year of Botany, was a massive endeavor to study, identify, and share these collected species with the world. If you tuned into ISEAA news in 2024, you may remember the news article titled “From the Lab to the Academy“, which highlighted the actual process of mounting and eventual delivery of the specimens to the Academy of Natural Sciences. Now, the plants have all been successfully cataloged and uploaded to the Academy’s database.
What’s Available?
With the full integration of the ecofacts from Northern Thailand completed, the Academy of Natural Sciences’ database thoroughly provides a plethora of information about each specimen. Along the top bar, one can choose from a variety of options: Table, Gallery, Map, Taxonomy, Metrics, and Downloads.
The table show cases basic information such as the scientific name, the coordinates from where each was found, the date of collection, and more. Much of this information is then used to inform the other tabs. The Map shows each collection site across Thailand for one to better visualize the locales of each species of plant. The Taxonomy section highlights the percentage of the collection belonging to different kingdoms, phyla, and orders through a concentric circle chart.
The gallery is a fantastic source showing each plant after its been preserved and mounted. With thousands of specimens in the collection, one can obtain a richer understanding of the floral resources available in Southeast Asia, primarily Northern Thailand.