MADBRYO

The herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA contains nearly 600,000 bryophyte specimens from all around the world. The bryophyte collections at MO are particularly strong in the neotropics and the western hemisphere in general. It also contains significant holdings from Africa and southeast Asia, including southern China. Although younger than many of the other significant bryophyte herbaria, the collection at MO is one of the largest and fastest growing with several full-time staff members assisting in its curation. Approximately half of the bryophyte collection is databased and the information is available online at: <http://www.tropicos.org/>

The Garden's involvement in the study of the Malagasy flora stretches back for a few decades now and over the course of that time several collectors from MO have brought back bryophytes to be incorporated into the herbarium. Many of these botanists are primarily vascular plant collectors who made incidental collections of bryophytes as part of their work. However, the Garden also sent sent two bryologists (Marshall Crosby & Robert Magill) to the island on collecting expeditions. The material from these expeditions is held at MO although many of the collections have yet to be identified to species. All told there are several thousand bryophyte collections from Madagascar at MO, making it a significant resource for the study of the Malagasy bryoflora.