Herbarium Wolnyanum: Botanical collection in Sremski Karlovci Grammar School

Abstract

Herbaria as botanical collections have an interesting historical back?ground. What was considered a traditional old-school field of science in the 20th century has become one of the focal points of interest in new-age science at the beginning of the 21st century, closely related to biodiversity, molecular screening and many other topics. Follow?ing the trend of rediscovering botanical collections, the Serbian scientific community in?vested in the process of acknowledging, renewing and presenting collections of national importance. The herbarium of the Sremski Karlovci Grammar School, protected under the name ?Herbarium of Andreas Wolny?, is the oldest herbarium collection in Serbia, dating back to the 18th century. It was established as a collection for obvious and practical teaching, but it grew beyond this scope due to the first systematic discoveries of the plant species of Srem and Fruska Gora Mountain. The most famous collector is Andreas Wolny, but besides him important teachers and botanists are ?arl Georg Rumy, Grigorije Lazic, Dimitrije Petrovic, Teofil Dimic and Jovan K. Borjanovic. Although only a few data are of floristic importance (data that include both the location and date of collection), there is no doubt about the botanical and historical importance of this collection. Moreover, this botanical collection provides an overview of the events under which education and the first scientific and mu?seum collections were developed in Serbia during the 18th and 19th centuries, and is thus an important cultural-historical document.