The Historical collections of TAU hold more than 6,000 specimens, dating back from the early 19th century up to the late 30’s. Most come from the collections of Theodor von Heldreich, Theodore Orphanides, Joseph Sartori, Basil Tountas and Dimitrios Zaganiaris, as well as of many others.
TAU’s historical collections include at least 44 nomenclatural type specimens collected during the 19th century, i.e. one lectotype , 30 isolectotypes, 10 syntypes and four probable types. More than half of them are Greek (18) or Balkan (9) endemics. These specimens have been collected from the floristic regions of Peloponnisos (17), Sterea Ellas (15), Kiklades (3), North Central Greece (3), Kriti and Karpathos (2), Northern Pindos (1) and the North Aegean Islands (1). Most specimens (30) come from Theodor von Heldreich's collections and were either collected by Heldreich himself, or by other collectors, such as Karl Hermann Zahn, Giacomo Guicciardi and Giovanni Battista Samaritani. Ten specimens have been collected by Theodoros Orphanides and the rest belong to the collections of Joseph Sartori (2), Antonio Baldacci (1) and Carl Baenitz (1).
Important collectors
Ο Theodor Heinrich Hermann von Heldreich (1822-1902) was a German, who studied philosophy and natural history. He arrived in the newly established Greek state in 1843 at the age of 21 and lived in the country for almost the rest of his life. He was curator to the Royal Garden and the Physiographic Museum of the University of Athens. He is one of the most important scholars of Greek flora, as he has discovered and described seven plant genera and several hundred species. The genus Heldreichia Boiss has been named in his honor, as well as numerous species such as Jankaea heldreichii (Boiss.) Boiss.
Ο Theodoros Orphanides (1817-1886) was the first modern Greek botanist. He came from Izmir, Asia Minor. He was a professor and the dean of the University of Athens and curator to the State Arboretum. At the same time, he wrote poetry, mainly satirical, and participated as a proxy in the Second National Assembly of Athens in 1862. He described several plant species and the genus Orphanidesia Boiss., as well as dozens of species, such as the rare Biebersteinia orphanidis Boiss. were named in his honor.
Ο Joseph Sartori (1809-1885) was a Bavarian pharmacist who arrived in Greece in 1833, as member of King’s Otto court and lived in the country until 1862. He was the king’s chief-pharmacist and taught at the Royal Pharmacy. His contribution to the writing of the first official Greek Pharmacopoeia was significant. He collected a large number of specimens and left most of his collections in Athens. He did not publish species descriptions, but Boissier and Helderich described dozens of new species from his samples. The genus Sartoria Boiss. & Heldr. has been named in his honor, as well as several species such as Ferulago sartorii Boiss. Boiss. were named in his honor.
Ο Vasilios Tountas (1871-?) Was a physician and naturalist. What little is known about him, mainly comes from reports of Heldreich with whom he had been working. Colchicum tuntasium Heldr. and other species have been named in his honor.
Ο Dimitrios Zaganiaris (1901-1940) served as Associate Professor of Systematic Botany and Phytogeography at the University of Thessaloniki during the period 1936-1940. He published about nine floristic works during the 1930s, including the "Flora of Mani" and his most memorable work "Herbarium Macedonicum", both awarded by the Academy of Athens. He was a tireless collector and it seems that his was the founder of what is today known as the TAU Herbarium. In addition to his own collections, he also exchanged his duplicata and enriched the Herbarium with specimens from other Herbaria. Many of his specimens were destroyed during World War II. The remnants of his collections (more than 3000 samples) are held, to the best of our knowledge, only in TAU.
Other collectors of TAU are the following:
- Karl Gabriel Baenitz (1837-1913), German teacher and botanist
- Antonio Baldacci (1867-1950), Italian botanist with interest in the flora of the western Balkans
- Carl Nikolaus Fraas (1810-1875), founder of the Royal Garden (now National Garden) and first Professor of Botany at the University of Athens
- Giacomo Guicciardi, embalmer at the Physiographic Museum of the University of Athens
- Eugen von Halácsy (1842-1913), Hungarian botanist, author of "Conspectus florae Graecae" (1900-1908)
- Timoleon Holzmann (1843-?), naturalist, Heldreich’s friend and collaborator
- Theobald Krüper (1829-1917), German ornithologist and entomologist, curator of the Physiographic Museum of the University of Athens
- Thomas Pichler (1828-1903), Austrian botanical and mountain guide
- Elisée Reverchon (1835-1914), French botanist, with interest in the Iberian flora
- Giovanni Battista Samaritani (1821-1894), Italian doctor and surgeon
- Karl Hermann Zahn (1865-1940), German botanist, specialist in the genus Hieracium
- Theodoros Afentoulis (1824-1893), Professor of Botany and Orphanides' successor at the University of Athens
- Elias Psaridis, student of Orphanides
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