The following blog was written by Linde Hess a digitiser in the Herbarium.
Since 2021 we have increased our digitisation capacity reaching 1 million specimens imaged in August 2024. Each digitiser is assigned a family of plants to work through. This series of blogs will spotlight the families that have been completed by a member of the team.
Elatinaceae
The family Elatinaceae is also knowns as the Waterwort family. It consists of only two genera Bergia and Elatine. The native range of the genus Bergia is W. & Central U.S.A. to Tropics & Subtropics. The genus Elatine also occurs in temperate regions, it contains about 25 species of annual or perennial plants found in wet areas worldwide. Several Elatine species can be found in Scotland. For instance, six-stamened Waterwort, this is a tiny aquatic plant which can be found on the very edges of fresh water lakes and lochs in Scotland.
Our Collections
The total number of specimens databased is 305. Before the mass digitisation push, we had 215 Elatinaceae entries in our database. Of these 11 are type specimens.
You can view the specimens here.
Top 5 Regions
| No. of Specimens | Herbarium Filing Region |
| 75 | Britain & Ireland |
| 67 | Europe excl. Britain & Ireland |
| 61 | India, Bangladesh & Pakistan |
| 14 | North America |
| 13 | West Asia – Arabian Peninsula |
Genera
| No. of Specimens | Genus |
| 187 | Elatine |
| 115 | Bergia |
Irvingiaceae
This family consists of four accepted genera: Allantospermum, Desbordesia, Irvingia and Klainedoxa.
Our Collections
The total number of specimens databased is 51. Before the mass digitisation push, we had 34 Irvingiaceae entries in our database.
You can view the specimens here.
Regions
| No. of Specimens | Herbarium Filing Region |
| 32 | Tropical Africa |
| 11 | Indo-China |
| 5 | Myanmar |
| 3 | Malay Peninsula |
We do not have many Irvingiaceae members in our collection; most of them were collected in central Africa.
Genera
| No. of Specimens | Genus |
| 43 | Irvingia |
| 5 | Klainedoxa |
| 3 | Desbordesia |
The genus Irvingia Hook.f. is best represented in our collection with 43 specimens. It is not to be confused with the genus Irvingia F.Muell. which is an illegitimate name, as it is a later homonym and a synonym of Polyscias J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. in the Araliaceae family.
We do not have any representatives of the genus Allantospermum in our collection, this is not surprising as there are only two tree species in this genus and they are endemic to Borneo and Madagascar. Allantospermum multicaule (Capuron) Noot. only occurs in Madagascar, while Allantospermum borneense Forman only occurs in Borneo.
