Moscow University Herbarium (MW)

Moscow University Herbarium (MW) is the second largest herbarium in Russia after the Komarov Institute. Being available at https://plant.depo.msu.ru/, it is almost completely imaged either at 300 dpi for regular collections or at 600 dpi for type specimens. After 2020, all collections are imaged at 520 dpi. The herbarium is focused on the flora of temperate Eurasia with an emphasis on the flora of Russia. As of 12 December 2025, physical collections of MW Herbarium include 1,157,810 specimens (incl. 5,155 type specimens) representing 37,158 species of vascular plants and bryophytes. Currently, MW holds the 57th place in the world's ranking (Thiers, 2025). Moscow University Herbarium preserve some important historical collections by G.F. Hoffmann, J.F. Ehrhart, C.B. Trinius, J.R. and J.G.A. Forsters, and their correspondents.The Moscow University Herbarium added a millionth specimen to the collections in June 2016. An average annual growth of the collections is ca. 15,000-20,000 specimens, with exceptional 22,013 specimens added to the herbarium in 2016. In 2025, we added 18,367 new accessions. Since 2005, major accessions originated from Eastern Europe, Siberia and Russian Far East, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and South Asia (vascular plants); Taimyr, Russian Far East, and North Caucasus (bryophytes).The Moscow University Herbarium has gained budget for the digitisation of the collections within the Program of the National Depository Bank of Live Systems (Moscow Digital Herbarium Initiative), and ca. 1,080,734 specimens were imaged since May 2015. All records are published at Moscow Digital Herbarium (https://plant.depo.msu.ru/), including JPG images and metadata required for indexing.Specimen imaging in MW Herbarium was completed at the end of 2018. All scans were published online with key metadata (i.e., “filed as” name, currently accepted name, one of 60 geographic area codes, country of origin, collection date, and primary collector. However, it was just the beginning of our long-term goal to digitize complete label data and georeference the collection, which was our most challenging task. The number of georeferenced specimens with fully captured labels is constantly growing. As of December 2025, labels of 593,743 specimens are fully captured and 840,967 specimens are precisely georeferenced. MW Herbarium is the 5th largest supplier of precise geodata based upon herbarium specimens after MO, L, NY, and LD.At the moment, we have three main sources of geodata in the database including: (1) coordinates available from labels; (2) manual georeferences made by operators; (3) automatic georeferences based upon the ISTRA algorithm; and also (4) specimens which do not have sufficient information to generate georeferenced data. The current phase and bulk of georeferencing for the MW Herbarium has been completed. Further intensive georeferencing is going to be highly time-consuming, since collections with traceable exact localities are already done. Expansion of geodata will be mostly based upon new accessions with available GPS-coordinates with an average rate of new acquisitions ca. 15,000 specimens per year. Geographically, our geodata cover large areas of Temperate Eurasia with a focus on Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Mongolia, that have long been poorly represented in GBIF.Moscow Digital Herbarium Consrtium (MW, MHA, IRKU, KUZ, TUL, TULGU, KULPOL, MAG, TKM, SMR, KRSU herbaria online) is the largest Russian plant database. It is fully available in GBIF. It is the primary source for the "Distribution Atlas of the Russian Flora" (https://plant.depo.msu.ru/open/public/en/search?collection=ATLAS).The project is currently supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 21-77-20042, https://rscf.ru/en/project/21-77-20042/).

莫斯科大学植物标本馆(Moscow University Herbarium, MW)是俄罗斯仅次于科马罗夫植物研究所(Komarov Institute)的第二大植物标本馆。该标本馆可通过https://plant.depo.msu.ru/访问，馆藏绝大多数已完成成像：常规馆藏采用300dpi分辨率扫描，模式标本(type specimens)则采用600dpi分辨率。2020年起，所有馆藏均采用520dpi分辨率进行扫描。
该标本馆馆藏以温带欧亚植物区系为主，尤其侧重俄罗斯本土植物区系。截至2025年12月12日，莫斯科大学植物标本馆的实体馆藏共计1,157,810份标本（含5,155份模式标本(type specimens)），涵盖维管植物和苔藓植物共37,158种。目前，该馆在全球植物标本馆排名中位列第57位（Thiers, 2025）。
莫斯科大学植物标本馆保存有G.F.霍夫曼、J.F.埃哈特、C.B.特里纽斯、J.R.与J.G.A.福斯特及其通信者的重要历史馆藏标本。该馆于2016年6月迎来馆藏第100万份标本。该馆藏年均新增标本约15,000~20,000份，2016年更是创下新增22,013份的纪录；2025年新增馆藏18,367份。
自2005年以来，主要入藏来源包括：维管植物标本来自东欧、西伯利亚、俄罗斯远东、高加索、克里米亚及南亚；苔藓植物标本来自泰梅尔、俄罗斯远东及北高加索。
莫斯科大学植物标本馆依托国家活体系统存储库计划（莫斯科数字植物标本馆倡议(Moscow Digital Herbarium Initiative)）获得了馆藏数字化专项经费，自2015年5月以来已完成约1,080,734份标本的扫描成像。所有标本记录均发布于莫斯科数字植物标本馆（https://plant.depo.msu.ru/），包含JPG格式图像及索引所需的元数据(metadata)。
莫斯科大学植物标本馆的标本扫描工作已于2018年底完成，所有扫描图像均已上线发布，并附带核心元数据：包括入藏名、当前接受名、60个地理区域代码之一、原产国、采集日期及主要采集者。但这仅为我们长期数字化目标的开端——完整采集标签数据数字化及馆藏地理坐标标注(georeferencing)仍是极具挑战性的核心任务。完整采集标签已数字化且完成地理坐标标注的标本数量持续增长。截至2025年12月，已有593,743份标本的采集标签完成完整数字化，840,967份标本完成精确地理坐标标注(georeferencing)。莫斯科大学植物标本馆是全球仅次于MO、L、NY及LD的第五大植物标本精确地理数据供应商。
目前数据库中的地理数据主要有四类来源：(1) 采集标签上直接标注的坐标；(2) 操作人员手动完成的地理坐标标注；(3) 基于ISTRA算法(ISTRA algorithm)的自动地理坐标标注；(4) 信息不足以生成地理坐标数据的标本。莫斯科大学植物标本馆当前阶段的绝大多数地理坐标标注工作已完成。后续的精细化地理坐标标注将耗费大量时间，因为所有可追溯精确采集地点的馆藏均已完成标注。未来地理数据的扩充将主要依托每年新增的、带有GPS坐标的入藏标本，年均新增约15,000份。
从地理分布来看，我们的地理数据覆盖了温带欧亚大陆的广大区域，尤其聚焦俄罗斯、前苏联地区及蒙古国——这些区域在全球生物多样性信息机构(GBIF, Global Biodiversity Information Facility)中的馆藏数据长期以来较为匮乏。
莫斯科数字植物标本馆联盟(Moscow Digital Herbarium Consortium)包含MW、MHA、IRKU、KUZ、TUL、TULGU、KULPOL、MAG、TKM、SMR、KRSU等在线植物标本馆，是俄罗斯规模最大的植物数据库。该数据库已全面接入全球生物多样性信息机构(GBIF)，同时也是《俄罗斯植物分布图鉴》（https://plant.depo.msu.ru/open/public/en/search?collection=ATLAS）的核心数据源。
本项目目前获得俄罗斯科学基金会(Russian Science Foundation)资助（项目编号：21-77-20042，https://rscf.ru/en/project/21-77-20042/）。