Togo National Herbarium Database

Study Extent

The analysis of this dataset reveals that the eco-floristic zone IV is the most significant and prospected with 31.63% of the herbarium specimens whereas the ecological zone II remains the least prospected with 11.33% of the collected specimens. Although quite rich, Togolese spontaneous flora remains incompletely known (Akpagana 1992b, Radji 1997, Kokou 1998).

Sampling

The specimens deposited in the TOGO Herbarium comes from diverse ecofloristic area, which is outcome of several research projects mainly first lecturers in Botany in the university followed by the first PhD students learning in French universities and for who field works was conductied in Togo depositing the specimens. As a result, specimens are not collected using a uniform protocol. Of the materials from donations or purchases (e.g. herbarium of Ern) the protocol followed for the specimens' collection is unknown. The methodology used in collecting plants by researchers from the Botany area may vary depending on the specific objectives pursued in each case. A voucher herbarium specimen is a pressed plant sample deposited for future reference. It supports research work and may be examined to verify the identity of the specific plant used in a study. When possible, duplicates of specimens have been send to recognized herbaria committed to long-term maintenance. These where: P (MNHN, Paris), STR (Institute of Botany, Strasbourg), KEW (England), B (Berlin, Germany), MPU (Montpellier, France), MO (Missouri Botanical Garden , USA), BR (Botanical Garden Meise, Belgium), WAG and K (Royal Botanic Gardens, UK), LMU, MOZ (Mozambique). During the SEP project (2008-2012), 6 students in Master's degree in Plant Biology were recruited to assemble herbarium specimens deposited by collectors in presses and sometimes in Canson papers. Most of specimens have original collectors’ labels. Trained to the use of RIHA database (under Microsoft Access), the data was digitized as and when the specimens were mounted. The result is the extraction of this list exported under Excel.

Quality Control

The present dataset was updated to match the APG III classification for the orders and families of flowering plants (APGIII, 2009) and all species names were checked for validity (spelling, synomyms and authorship) against online databases: http://www.ipni.org/ipni/plantnamesearchpage.do ; http://kiki.huh. harvard.edu/databases/specimen_index.html;http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_index.html; http://www.theplantlist.org/ ; http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php.

Method steps

1. Specimens are pressed in a plant press, which consists of a wooden frame (for rigidity), corrugated cardboard ventilators (to allow air to flow through the press), blotter paper (to absorb moisture), and folded paper, typically a newspaper (to contain the plant material). The plant press is tightened using straps with buckles or bolts with wing nuts. The objective of pressing plants is to extract moisture in the shortest period of time, while preserving the morphological integrity of the plant, and to yield material that can be readily mounted on herbarium paper (an acid-free cardstock) for long-term storage. In order to fit on a standard herbarium sheet, a plant specimen have been pressed flat to no more than 11 x 16 inches. For the specimen that will not fit those dimensions, it may be folded or cut into sections. Multiples of smaller plants may be pressed together in order to provide ample material for mounting and study. Small loose pieces, such as seeds, may need to be placed in a small paper packet inside of the newspaper. Large fruits or bulbs are often cut in half lengthwise or in slices prior to pressing. In order to insure rapid and thorough drying, extremely succulent materials such as cactus stems may need to be sliced open and some of the fleshy interior scraped out. Knowing that a plant specimen is incomplete without label data, label data must be incorporate with the following important elements: scientific name, determiner of the scientific name; detailed location; habitat, date of collection, collector name and number and plant description as well.

Although the herbarium contains specimens from all mayor botanical groups Phanerogams (angiosperms-gymnosperms), Pteridophyta (ferns), Bryophyta and Thallophyta (algae-lichens-fungi),the database covers exclusively Angiosperms (Dicotyledonous and Monocotyledonous). The Togo flora contains 3,451 species (including plants in the wild and cultivated). Table 1 and Figure 4 to 6 give an idea on each taxonomic group is prepresented and the distribution between wild and ornamental specimens (Radji et al., 2010).

1. Plantae
   rank: kingdom

Taxonomic ranks Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta (Cronquist, Takht. & W. Zimm., 1996) Phylum: Spermaphyta Class: Magnoliopsida, Liliopsida Family: Agavaceae, Alismataceae, Amaryllidaceae, Anthericaceae, Araceae, Asparagaceae, Aspidiaceae, Cannaceae, Commelinaceae, Costaceae, Cyperaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Dracaenaceae, Droseraceae, Eriocaulaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Gramineae, Hyacinthaceae, Hydrocharitaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, Hypoxidaceae, Iridaceae, Lemnaceae, Liliaceae, Linaceae, Marantaceae, Musaceae, Najadaceae, Opiliaceae, Orchidaceae, Palmae, Pandanaceae, Pontederiaceae, Smilacaceae, Taccaceae, Typhaceae, Xyridaceae, Zingiberaceae. Acanthaceae, Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Anacardiaceae, Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Araliaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Avicenniaceae, Azollaceae, Balanitaceae, Balanophoraceae, Balsaminaceae, Basellaceae, Begoniaceae, Bignoniaceae, Bixaceae, Bombacaceae, Boraginaceae, Burseraceae, Cactaceae, Campanulaceae, Capparaceae, Caricaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Casuarinaceae, Cecropiaceae, Celastraceae, Ceratophyllaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Cochlospermaceae, Colchicaceae, Combretaceae, Compositae, Connaraceae, Convolvulaceae, Crassulaceae, Cruciferae, Cucurbitaceae, Dichapetalaceae, Dilleniaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Ebenaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Flagellariaceae, Gentianaceae, Gesneriaceae, Goodeniaceae, Guttiferae, Haloragaceae, Hernandiaceae, Hippocrateaceae, Icacinaceae, Irvingiaceae, Labiatae, Lauraceae, Lecythidaceae, Leeaceae, Leguminosae, Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae-Mimosoideae, Leguminosae-Papilionoideae, Lentibulariaceae, Loganiaceae, Loranthaceae, Lycopodiaceae, Lythraceae, Malpighiaceae, Malvaceae, Melastomataceae, Meliaceae, Menispermaceae, Molluginaceae, Moraceae, Moringaceae, Myristicaceae, Myrsinaceae, Myrtaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Ochnaceae, Olacaceae , Oleaceae, Onagraceae, Opiliaceae, Oxalidaceae, Pandaceae, Papaveraceae, Passifloraceae, Pedaliaceae, Phytolaccaceae, Piperaceae, Pittosporaceae, Plumbaginaceae, Podostemaceae, Polygalaceae, Polygonaceae, Portulacaceae, Proteaceae, Punicaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Salicaceae, Santalaceae, Sapindaceae, Sapotaceae, Saxifragaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Simaroubaceae, Solanaceae, Sphenocleaceae, Sterculiaceae, Thymelaeaceae, Tiliaceae, Turneraceae, Ulmaceae, Umbelliferae, Urticaceae, Verbenaceae, Violaceae, Vitaceae, Zygophyllaceae.

1. Spermaphyta
   rank: phylum

The description dataset collection comes from all over Togo. Indeed, Togo is a country in West Africa which has an area of 56,600 km². It stretches for 600 km from North to South and East to West between 50 and 150 km wide (Figure 7). According to Ern subdivision (1979), Togo Herbarium specimens were collected through the 5 Togo ecological zones (ZE), from north to south and from east to west (Figure 7 & 12). Indeed, ZE.I refers to the Northern Plains Savannah, with Sudan savanna as the predominant vegetation with few islands of dry forests and gallery forests. ZE.II is covered with a mosaic of dry forests of mountain and forest galleries and climate is Sudano-Guinean. ZE.III corresponds to the Guinean savannas of central area plains enjoying a tropical climate with one rainy season. Semi-deciduous forests are noticed in the southern part and dry forests in the northern part. ZE.IV covers the southern part of the Togo Mountains and has a sub-equatorial transition climate. The vegetation is constituted of rainforests, on deep red lateritic soils. This ZE is the domain of dense semi-deciduous forests. The latest one, ZE.V is a coastal plain of southern Togo with a subequatorial climate marked by a deficit in rainfall. It's characterized by a climate with two rainy seasons and the vegetation is set up by a mosaic of savannah, farmland and dry forests (Kokou and Caballé, 2000).