CD-ROM Bot. col. Von SIebold

[ridder]

VONSIEBOLD'S BOTANICAL TREASURES IN LEIDEN

I. de Kort, J. Ridder-Numan, G. Thijsse, N. Kato & T. Yamaguchi. Von
Siebold’s Bottanical Treasures in Leiden.
CD-ROM in ETI World Biodiversity Database CD-ROM Series. National
Herbarium of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 9514, NL-2300 RA Leiden. Price
NGL 99,-.

In the framework of the 400th anniversary of the relationship between
Japan and the Netherlands the National Herbarium of the Netherlands
together with ETI published a CD-ROM on the botanical colletions made in
Japan during the beginning of the 19th century by Von Siebold and his
assistants and pupils.

Philipp Franz von Siebold was active as a physician on the island
Deshima in the harbor of Nagasaki between 1823 and 1829. His role in
introducing western medical knowledge in Japan brougth him great fame.

During his stay in Japan and especially during the traditional court
journey to the Shogun in Edo (the present Tokyo) he collected many plant
specimens. His dried collection is one of the earliest herbarium
collections of this extent from Japan, and an important source for newly
described Japanese species. The dried collections are housed at the
Universiteit Leiden branch of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands.

Von Siebold and his successors also sent living plant specimens to the
Netherlands. Many of those are well known garden varieties now. In the
Hortus Botanicus in Leiden 15 of the original specimen are still
flowering.

The CD-ROM gives an illustrated overview of the life and work of Von
Siebold and of his botanical collections. There are images of herbarium
sheets, hand coloured plates form the Flora Japonica, issued between
1835 and 1870, of illustrated wood samples donated to Von Siebold by
Mogami Tokunai, of some original water-colours of Kawahara Keiga,
completed with colores photographs of live Japanese plants of in total
750 species.

It is the first time that an important part of Von Siebold's botanical
collection is made accessible for interested gardeners and botanists.

Moreover the CD-ROM gives information on the Universiteit Leiden branch
of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, the Leiden Hortus
Botanicus, including the Von Siebold memorial garden, established in
1990.

This CD-ROM was established thanks to a grant of NWO (Nederlandse
Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Dutch Organisation for
Scientific Research)). The bio-informatic software was developed by the
Expert Centre for Taxonomic Identification (ETI) in Amsterdam.


Available from
Publishing Department
National Herbarium of the Netherlands
Universiteit Leiden branch
c/o Mrs. M. van Zoelen,
Postbus 9514,
NL-2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
e-mail Zoelen at nhn.leidenuniv.nl
http:/www.nhncml.leidenuniv.nl/rhb

--
Jeannette Ridder-Numan & Ingrid de Kort

National Herbarium of the Netherlands
P.O.Box 9514
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
e-mail: ridder at nhn.leidenuniv.nl
        kort at nhn.leidenuniv.nl
phone: 071-5273565/3500