Role of Voucher Specimens in the Documentation of Historic Gardens of Egypt

Abstract

Background and Objective: Egyptians during their historic periods were interested in horticulture and creating gardens. These gardens carried a precious history, some of them were destroyed, others survived and few had completely disappeared. A voucher specimen is a pressed, dried specimen with complete collection data, kept in a herbarium as a record of an individual plant in time and space. In this study, the relationship between the plant and its history was examined. Materials and Methods: The ancient voucher specimens prepared from five historic gardens and kept in Cairo University Herbarium (CAI) were used to ensure this relationship. These historic gardens were: Alfred Bircher’s Garden, El Saff; Manial Palace Garden; Orman Garden; Zohria Garden; and Zoological Garden. Results: The total recorded 1656 specimens were distributed in 124 families and 1278 taxa. The largest family was Myrtaceae, and the largest recorded genus was Ficus (Moraceae). The highest percentage of the recorded specimens were collected by Vivi Taeckholm. The oldest recorded specimens were collected by Mohamed Hassib Bay in 1927. A brief history of these gardens was addressed and correlated with the collection data. Conclusion: The results revealed the significance of voucher specimens in the documentation of historic gardens, as well as recommended the protection of what is remaining from gardens that have great history, plant diversity, and conservation significance.