The Natural History Museum's collection of Dalbergia, Pterocarpus and the Phaseolinae subtribe

In 2018 the Natural History Museum (NHMUK, herbarium code: BM) undertook a pilot digitisation project together with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (project Lead) and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to collectively digitise non-type herbarium material of the subtribe Phaseolinae and the genera Dalbergia L.f. and Pterocarpus Jacq. (rosewoods and padauk), all from the economically important family of legumes (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). 

These taxonomic groups were chosen for two case studies using the herbarium collections to support the aims of the UK’s Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)-allocated, Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding: study 1 - to support the development of dry beans as a sustainable and resilient crop; study 2 - to aid conservation and sustainable use of rosewoods and padauk.

We present the images and metadata for 11,222 NHMUK specimens. This includes label transcription and georeferencing, along with summary data on geographic, taxonomic, collector and temporal coverage. We also provide timings and the methodology for our transcription and georeferencing protocols. Approximately 35% of specimens digitised were collected in ODA-listed countries, in tropical Africa, but also in south east Asia and South America.