Research
At the University of Warsaw Herbarium, we conduct research in plant taxonomy, anatomy, and morphology. We work both with contemporary collections and with historical holdings. Current projects include, among others, molecular analyses, spectral measurements of herbarium specimens, taxonomic revisions of selected groups, and provenance research on collections.
Ongoing projects
- Experimental analysis of the effect of herbarization on spectral signatures and DNA integrity – we investigate how the preparation and storage of herbarium specimens affect their usefulness in molecular research (DNA quality) as well as a specimen’s “fingerprint” in reflected light across different wavelengths (spectral signature).
- Systematics of Apioideae, Apiaceae, Apiales – we take part in a major taxonomic revision of the subfamily Apioideae within the family Apiaceae (e.g., carrot, parsley, caraway), led by Prof. Krzysztof Spalik, and we are involved in the emerging Apiales expert group within World Flora Online.
- Evolution of Central European spurges (Euphorbia) – we analyze variation and relationships among Central European taxa to better understand their evolutionary history and species boundaries in the region.
- Historical collections: provenance and collection history – we study the origins and fates of older collections. We are currently analyzing the history of an 18th-century “living herbarium” created by Helwing and Boretius. This is a book in which dried plants are pasted onto pages (often with descriptions), creating a lasting record of the observed flora. This copy reached Warsaw from Königsberg and is probably the only surviving one of five prepared sets.
Completed projects
Typification and current status of taxa described by Hanna Czeczott from Turkey – we returned to a little-known chapter of Hanna Czeczott’s (1888–1982) work, associated primarily with paleobotany. Her expeditions to northern Turkey in 1925 resulted in the description of 22 new taxa and a rich herbarium collection (over 3,000 specimens, with duplicates distributed to several European herbaria). In this study we organized the type material and nomenclature: we located all or part of the original material for 21 names, designated lectotypes, and assessed the current taxonomic status of these names. We also showed that some previously described entities are synonyms, and that one widely accepted species requires further research to confirm its distinctness. Publication: https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.13387
Research on the herbaria of Michał Federowski (Fedorowski) – In 2012, while the University of Warsaw Herbarium archive was being reorganized, a set of 19th-century ethnobotanical materials by Michał Fedorowski was rediscovered: the notebook Useful plants among the Lithuanian people from the vicinity of Słonim, Wołkowysk and Prużana, two notebooks of Medicinal herbs used by the Lithuanian people in the vicinity of Wołkowysk and Słonim, the Lithuanian Herbarium, additional herbarium documentation, drafts, and letters to Józef Rostafiński. In the course of this research, we reconstructed the structure and history of these collections, identified the specimens, and linked historical vernacular plant names with modern botanical nomenclature. We showed that Fedorowski’s herbaria are a unique combination of botanical and ethnographic documentation: Useful plants… (1883) comprises 57 pages of manuscript and 15 plates with 53 species, while the two notebooks of Medicinal herbs… from 1882–1883 contain 108 specimens documenting folk medicine and magical practices in the area of present-day Belarus. Detailed description of the project. Publications: Useful plants… by Michał Fedorowski – a work rediscovered after 130 years; The herbarium Medicinal herbs… by Michał Fedorowski as documentation of ethnographic research.