Vraagtekens bij collecties in de herbaria van Michael Scheidweiler en Camiel Pelgrims: Juncus atratus, een rijtje woladventieven en andere curiosa

Doubts about a number of collections in the herbaria of Michael Scheid­weiler and Camiel Pelgrims: Juncus atratus, some wool aliens and other curiosities. – Remarkable plant records not infrequently raise questions regarding their reliability. A critical evaluation is based on the study of elements that relate to both the plant and the collector. In this paper we pay attention to some herbarium collections of two Belgian collectors from the 19th and 20th centuries, respectively M. Scheidweiler (indigenous flora) and C. Pelgrims (wool aliens). The available information does not allow a final judgment to be made. As evaluators, we can only formulate a personal opinion based on a critical assessment. Especially the assessment of the human factor, which may range from sloppy herbarium management to conscious fraud, is delicate. Care must be taken that deleting a ‘suspect’ record does not lead to a chain reaction of rejected data.