Rediscovery of an ancient herbarium for Turkish botanical history: Bolu Girls Village Institute Herbarium

Year 2022, Volume: 31 Issue: 2, 109 - 147, 30.12.2022

Nursel İkinci

https://doi.org/10.53447/communc.1143523

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Bolu Girls’ Village Institute Herbarium (Bolu Kız Köy Enstitüsü Herbaryumu) was founded in 1953 by Muhittin Fehmi Özgen. It is one of the earliest herbaria of the Turkish Republic. The herbarium was part of the natural history collections of the school which also included insects, minerals, and fossils. The herbarium initially contained around 2500 specimens within 72 cardboard boxes. Additionally, specimens from this herbarium were sent to İstanbul University Department of Biology Herbarium (ISTF) and around 600 specimens to the herbarium of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (E). In 2006, we received 567 plant specimens in five boxes. The plants were mainly collected from Bolu and neighboring provinces between 1953 and 1958. The herbarium collection contains one bryophyte specimen and three seedless vascular plants. The remaining taxa belong to gymnosperms and angiosperms. The herbarium labels were prepared both in Latin and Turkish. Majority of the specimens have identification up to family and genus level and a small number of them up to species level. This herbarium remained largely unknown to Turkish botanists. Therefore, we think it is valuable to provide detailed information about the history and the content of the herbarium. The information given here not only will contribute to our knowledge about the natural history collections of Turkey but also to the education history of the Turkish Republic.

Keywords

Botanical history, Kızılçullu, Savaştepe, Turkey, Village Institutes

Thanks

The author thanks Mehmet Tunçkol (Bolu) who stored the herbarium specimens between 1982 and 2006 and made them available to us and to Prof. Dr. Mustafa Ünal for the information about the insect collection.

References

• Stefanaki, A., Porck, H., Grimaldi, I.M., Thurn, N., Pugliano, V., Kardinaal, A., Salemink, J., Thijsse, G., Chavannes-Mazel, C., Kwakkel, E., van Andel, T., Breaking the silence of the 500-year-old smiling garden of everlasting flowers: the en tibi book herbarium, PloS one, 14(6) (2019), e217779. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217779.
• Baytop, T., Türkiye’de ilk herbarium, Doğa Türk Eczacılık Dergisi, 2(1) (1992), 1-5.
• Baytop, A., Wilhelm Noë (1798-1858) ve Türkiye bitkileri koleksiyonu, Osmanlı Bilimi Araştırmaları, 13(2) (2012), 23-30.
• İleri, N., “Müzesiyle iftihar edecek bir mektep”: Robert Kolej’de bir doğa tarihi müzesi, Kebikeç, 48 (2019), 235–256.
• Demiriz, H., Bitkilerin sistematik ve nomenklatürü üzerinde düşünceler II. Türkiye’deki herbaryumlarin durumuna toplu bakiş (Bemerkungen zur systematik und nomenklatur der pflanzen: II. Bericht über den heutigen stand der herbarien der Turkei), Acta Biologica Turcica, 19 (1) (1969), 33-48.
• Göçmengil, G., Merzifon Anadolu Koleji müzesinin tarihsel gelişimi, Toplumsal Tarih, 311 (2019), 64-70.
• Sakınç, M., İstanbul Saint Joseph lisesi tarihi bitki koleksiyonu [The historic plant collection of İstanbul's Saint Joseph high-school], Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul, 2013.
• Göçmengil, G., A brief history of natural history museums in the Ottoman Empire, Geological Curator, 11(5) (2021), 375-384.
• Akyıldırım, B., Istanbul’daki Orta Dereceli Öğretim Kurumlarinda Bulunan Bitki Ve Hayvan Koleksiyonlarinin Envanteri, Master Thesis, İstanbul University, 2006.
• Körüklü, S.T., Ankara Üniversitesi Botanik Enstitüsü Herbaryumu (ANK) “Herbarium Turcicum”, Ulusal Botanik Bahçeleri, Arboretumlar, Herbaryumlar ve Botanik Müzeleri Çalıştayı, 2019.
• Tunçkol, M., Muhittin Fehmi Özgen’in 1950’li yıllarda Abant yöresinden topladığı flora örnekleri, Mudurnulular Derneği Bülteni, 7 (2014), 42-43.
• Davis, P.H., Flora of Turkey and The East Aegean Islands, vols. 1-9, Edinb. Univ. Press, Edinburgh, 1965-1985.
• Davis, P.H., Mill, R.R., Tan, K., Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Vol 10 (Suppl.), Edinb. Univ. Press. Edinburgh, 1988.
• Akman, Y., Ketenoğlu O., Flora of the Gerede-Aktaş forest (Bolu), Comm. Fac. Sci. Univ. Ankara Serie C2, 23(2) (1979), 21-57, https://doi.org/10.1501/commuc2_0000000021.
• Akman, Y., Yurdakulol, E., Contributions to the flora of Bolu Mountains, Comm. Fac. Sci. Univ. Ankara Serie C2, 24(2) (1981a), 1-42.
• Akman, Y., Yurdakulol, E., Contributions to the flora of Semen Mountains (Bolu), Comm. Fac. Sci. Univ. Ankara Serie C2 (1981b), 24(3): 1-43.
• Ekim, T. İlarslan, R., Yedigöller Milli Parki'nin (Bolu) florası, Orm. Araş. Enst. Derg., 28(56) (1982), 53-67.
• Türker, A.U., Güner, A., Plant diversity in Abant nature park (Bolu), Turkey, Turk. J. Bot., 27(3) (2003), 185-222.
• İkinci, N., Güner, A., Flora of the Gölcük area (Bolu, Turkey), Turk. J. Bot., 31 (2007), 87-107.
• İkinci, N., Gamma-diversity of vascular plant taxa of the surrounding of Lake Sünnet (Bolu, NW Turkey) compared with other regions in Bolu, Biological Diversity and Conservation, 4(1) (2011), 107-121.
• İkinci, N., Bayındır, N., Distribution and richness of aquatic plants of Bolu province (Turkey), Fresen Environ Bull, 28 (2019), 244-256.
• İkinci N., The flora of Gölcük area (Bolu). MSc Thesis, Abant İzzet Baysal University, 2000.’
• Özgen, M. F., Bolu anılarım ve Mudurnu, Mudurnulular Derneği Bülteni, 7 (2014), 44-45.
• Özdemir, N., Bolu orman mektebi, Mudurnulular Derneği Bülteni, 9 (2016) 56-61.
• Tınal, M., Bozdağ, H., Köy enstitüleri tarihinden bir kesit: Kızılçullu köy enstitüsü tarihçesi, Turkish Studies, 12(19) (2017), 179-202. http://dx.doi.org/10.7827/TurkishStudies.12270
• Gök, F., The Girls’ Institutes in the early period of the Turkish Republic, Swedish Research Institute in İstanbul, Transactions, 18 (2007), 93-105.