Description |
The seed collection consists of fruit that are preserved for taxonomic purposes. They are used to identify taxa via morphological comparisons. Unlike germbanks, in which fertile seeds are stored, in seed collections the seed are frozen to ensure that fungi or parasites will not appear and as a result the seeds are no longer viable. Subsequently, seeds are stored in the herbarium at constant temperature and humidity. The Botanical Institute of Barcelona possesses a collection of 510 umbellifer fruits that were recently donated by Samuel Pyke. The whole collection is digitalized and includes 227 taxa collected, above all, in Spain, Morocco and Great Britain. |