This is a SPECIFY database containing all the label data associated with the lichen specimens in the Michigan State University Herbarium; such as collector, collection date, locality, and habitat, along with all additional information added as annotations; such as chemistry, spore dimensions, apothecial pigments. All name changes and additional species known to be present on the specimen were also recorded. Data was entered mostly by student workers and verified by MSU Herbarium staff.
The database is maintained, and hosted on the www, by the MSU Libraries Digital & Multimedia Center.
Click here for more information on the project and data entry process.
How to Search the Database
Specify searches (a.k.a. “queries”) work as filters and return records that match the criteria you select.
Limit your search to return less than 500 records.
The database will only return a maximum of 500 records for each search, so searches that are too general, i.e. for all the specimens of a large genus (e.g. Usnea) or a geographical area (e.g. Michigan), will not return all the records in the database, and may even fail.
You can search the database in one of five ways:
BASIC SEARCH: This will be sufficient for most purposes.
For example, if you want to query for all the collections in a genus, then set the operator for the “Genus/Taxon Name” to “=”, type in the name and hit return. Remember to set the number of records to be returned to a higher number if you want to see all the collections.
FULL SEARCH: This allows you to fully customize your search, and allows access to all data contained in the database, but the output is cumbersome.
SEARCH BY COLLECTOR: Allows you to search by a collector, which is not possible in the "Basic" or "Full" searches.
SEARCH EXSICCATI: Searches only the exsiccati collection.
SEARCH TYPES: Searches only the type collection.
All these searches use a number of Operators. You can also use Wildcards to broaden your search criteria.
The fields that are returned using the queries above are pre-selected. More data is contained in the database than is readily available on-line. If you require any additional data, prefer the data in a different format, or have any other questions or comments concerning this database, please contact Alan Fryday or Alan Prather
Citation: Please cite all uses of this database (see below) and inform us of any publication that uses these data in any way. If possible, please send us a reprint or .pdf.
Cite this website as:
Johnson, Andrew J., Fryday, Alan M., and Prather, L. Alan. “The Michigan State University Herbarium Lichen Database.” 2005. n. pag. Michigan State University Herbarium: “Day” “Month” “Year”; <http://www.herbarium.msu.edu/Database>
Remember to enter the date when the data were obtained.
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