Statistics and Analysis of Digital Information on Vascular Plant Specimens and the History of Plant Collecting in Guangzhou, China

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of digitized specimen data and relevant literature to investigate the vascular plant diversity in Guangzhou City, China. Specimen data were collected from various sources, including the China Digital Herbarium (CVH), the National Specimen Resource Sharing Platform (NSII), Global Plants on JSTOR, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Following data standardization, the study identified 41,890 vascular plant specimens, encompassing 248 families, 1563 genera, and 4536 species, including subspecies and cultivated plants. Among them, the native plants of Guangzhou city accounted for 60.6% of the species. The temporal analysis identified three distinct peaks in specimen collection: 1916–1920, 1928–1936, and 1950–1964. Collection activities were primarily concentrated between the months of April and November. The distribution of collected specimens exhibited significant variation among different species, with families such as Fabaceae, Poaceae, and Myrtaceae having the highest number of specimens. Similarly, genera such as Eucalyptus, Ficus, and Citrus were well-represented. The most frequently collected species included Litchi chinensis, Eucalyptus robusta, and Cycas taiwaniana. Remarkably, 21 species had specimen counts exceeding 100. Unfortunately, approximately three-quarters of the species had fewer than 10 recorded specimens. Alarmingly, 1220 species were represented by only one specimen. Geographically, the majority of specimens originated from the former suburbs of Guangzhou, Conghua Delta Mountain, and Liuxi River areas, while other regions had limited representation. In terms of specimen collections, the Herbarium of South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBSC) recorded the highest number of specimens (13,828 specimens), followed by the Tree Herbarium of South China Agricultural University (CANT; 3869 specimens) and the Herbarium of Sun Yat-sen University (SYS; 3654 specimens). The collection history in Guangzhou spans nearly 300 years and can be broadly divided into two distinct periods. The first period extends from the late 13th century to 1949, primarily encompassing the collection efforts of foreign visitors in Guangzhou, and represents the pioneering phase of plant taxonomy research in China. The second period, from 1949 to the present, is characterized by extensive investigations and collection activities conducted by local scholars, with a specific emphasis on native plant resources. By meticulously organizing and verifying information derived from historical documents and specimens, the paper effectively summarizes the plant collection and research history of Guangzhou, providing detailed profiles of the key collectors. These findings furnish reliable historical reference materials for the study of plant taxonomy and diversity in Guangzhou.