Zapiski bryologiczne by Kazimierz Szafnagel and His Herbarium in the Historical Context of Bryological Studies in Lithuania and Adjacent Regions

Abstract

Zapiski bryologiczne, a book written by Kazimierz Szafnagel, is a report on the author’s bryological studies conducted between 1882 and 1885 in the territories of present-day Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. The book was published in 1908 by the Society of Friends of Science in Vilnius after a long period of publishing stagnation caused by the closure of Vilnius University in 1832. Amateur botanist Szafnagel was among the first members to establish the society and was responsible for its botanical collections. In Zapiski bryologiczne, Szafnagel provided 245 moss species from the study areas. In 2018, Szafnagel’s bryophyte collection, comprising 667 moss specimens, was found at the Vilnius University Herbarium. These voucher specimens cover all the collection sites described in Szafnagel’s work. The majority of herbarium specimens (88%) were collected in the territory of Belarus. Szafnagel recognized 225 species in his original collection, but as a result of the current revision, their number decreased to 211 species. This set opened up new possibilities for evaluating the results of Szafnagel’s study, such as confirming the exact specimen referred to in his publication, clarifying the species according to modern nomenclatural concepts, and assessing the impact of landscape changes on the distribution and conservation status of rare species. Szafnagel’s published work and his herbarium can be considered as common heritage of the history of the natural sciences in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine.

Keywords

• belarus
• mosses
• poland
• the society of friends of science in vilnius
• ukraine
• vilnius university herbarium (wi)