The digitised dataset of the Cryptogamia-Lichenes section of TO includes all the Italian materials of the modern collection (n = 3,365) and a set of recently revised Italian specimens of the historical collection (n = 59).

The modern lichenological collection is mostly made of specimens gathered during field research activities of LabLich-UniTO (ISO 9001:2015), which include floristic surveys, vegetation relevés, biomonitoring campaigns and investigations dedicated to the biodeterioration of the stone cultural heritage. Specimens mostly consist of whole thalli, with the exception of samples from heritage surfaces, from which only thallus fragments were usually collected because of sampling limitations for conservation reasons. These small samples are preserved in tubes, while whole thallus specimens and, when present, their substrates are wrapped in soft paper, according to Obermayer (2002). All specimens are then stored in paper envelopes (approx. 12 × 10 cm), organised within three series of boxes (45 × 15 × 10 cm), each devoted to a distinct geographic area, namely Piemonte (PIE), Valle d’Aosta (AO) and the rest of the world (HUT). Each envelope can host more specimens if these thalli grow together on the substrate, particularly in the case of saxicolous lichens. Envelopes have labels that report the identification of the specimen(s), the locality and date of the collection, the collector(s) and ecological notes (substrate, habitat). A progressive ID is assigned to each specimen (from 1 to 3852 on 16-02-2023); a distinct numbering is used to identify each envelope (from 1 to 2669 on 16-02-2023). As part of the HERB-TO-CHANGE project, each specimen is also identified with a number and a QR code generated by the JACQ platform. Both are printed on a label that is fixed to the envelope.

Alternatively, the specimens of the historical collection were mounted using the same method used for phanerogamic collections in the 19^th century. Lichen thalli themselves, or the envelopes that contain them, were glued or stapled on to sheets of paper (approx. 30 × 46 cm) also used for vascular plants exsiccata. Identification and collection data were hand- or typewritten on the envelopes or on cards. In some cases, cuts of printed inventories were also used. Recently revised specimens (n = 159) are still preserved on the sheets, which are stored in distinct folders for each taxon (4,747 folders, alphabetically organised in 143 groups to manage their arrangement in the dedicated closets, compose the whole historical collection). All the revised specimens of the historical collection are identified by a number and a QR code generated by the JACQ platform.

The label metadata of all the specimens were digitised in a spreadsheet and then imported into a MySQL database to be aggregated into ITALIC, GBIF and JACQ platforms. Images of each envelope and its content were acquired using a scanner ScanSnap SV600 (FujiTsu) at a 600 dpi resolution and have been made available on the JACQ platform.

The collection and identification of the modern materials were carried out by experienced lichenologists of LabLich-UniTO (Piervittori R., Isocrono D., Matteucci E., Favero-Longo S.E.). Italian and foreign specialists contributed to the revision of specimens from the historical collection and of certain taxonomic groups from the modern collection. For each specimen, both the first identification and the currently accepted name (according to Nimis (2016)), were reported in the dataset. For several specimens collected during field surveys in the 2000s, the coordinates of the collecting site were acquired using GPS devices (Garmin 12, Garmin eTrex Summit). In other cases, post-hoc georeferencing was carried out by means of regional GIS maps, Google Maps and Google Earth, following the best practices by Chapman and Wieczorek (2020).

All the specimens were collected in Italy (Fig. 1), mostly in the administrative regions of Piemonte (n = 1,610; 47%) and Valle d’Aosta (n = 1,547; 45%). A small set of specimens were collected in other parts of Italy (Toscana, n = 74; Friuli Venezia Giulia, 53; Sicilia, 44; Lombardia, 44; Liguria, 24; Lazio, 10; Veneto, 8; Sardegna, 4; Trentino Alto Adige, 3; Calabria, 2; Abruzzo, 1).

Figure 1.  

Distribution map of the specimens included in the database, created with tmap (Tennekes 2018).

37.837 and 46.744 Latitude; 6.664 and 14.062 Longitude.

According to the checklist of the lichens of Italy (Nimis 2016), the materials of the dataset belong to 601 species, 209 genera, 64 families, 28 orders and 8 classes.

The most represented families and genera are shown in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. The distribution of taxa and specimens amongst kingdoms, phyla, classes, orders, families and genera can be graphically visualised as a Krona graph (Ondov et al. 2011), an interactive multi-layered pie chart (Suppl. material 1) or in tabular format (Suppl. material 2).

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