The present project aimed at digitising the data on distribution of vascular plants in Murmansk Region, Russia, which were published as printed point occurrence maps in the Flora of Murmansk Region (Gorodkov 1953, Poyarkova 1954, Poyarkova 1956, Poyarkova 1959, Poyarkova 1966).

History of preparation, structure, data origin: Flora of Murmansk Region became the main scientific task for the staff of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (Kuzeneva 1963, Shlyakov 1968). The work was initiated immediately after the Second World War, in 1946. The project was originally supervised by Prof. B.N. Gorodkov (1890–1953), who died shortly after the first volume of the Flora had been prepared. His successor was A.I. Poyarkova, an active and experience taxonomist from the Komarov Botanical Institute, with an interest in critical groups of vascular plants. The project leader at Kirovsk was O.I. Kuzeneva. Thirteen botanists took part in taxonomic treatments. In Kirovsk, major treatments were prepared by O.I. Kuzeneva, N.I. Orlova, N.Z. Semenova-Tian-Shanskaya, E.G. Chernov and R.N. Shlyakov, and smaller treatments by E.V. Shlyakova and N.A. Avrorin. Experts from outside were involved from the Komarov Botanical Institute (B.N. Gorodkov, A.I. Poyarkova, E.A. Selivanova-Gorodkova, I.A. Linchevsky and S.V. Yuzepchuk), the Leningrad Pedagogical University (V.V. Pisiyaukova) and the Institute of Botany in Kiev (M.V. Klokov).

The treatments written by Kuzeneva included taxonomically difficult groups of plants (several genera of Poaceae, Carex, Fabaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Rubiaceae etc.); these treatments are also most detailed and technically accurate. Shlyakov revised other most difficult groups, including Juncaceae, Salicaceae and Hieracium. His treatment of Salix was accepted in subsequent authoritative monographs (Skvortsov 1968). Shlyakov’s revision of Hieracium in Murmansk Region was a taxonomic monograph itself, including 83 apomictic species new to science and dozens of new records; this treatment became the basis for subsequent revision of the genus in East Europe (Shlyakov 1989). Several novelties were introduced in the treatments by Orlova (Poyarkova 1956, Poyarkova 1966), who described four new species in Betula, Alnus, Achillea and Sonchus (mostly rejected in later revisions).

The first estimations stated that the flora of Murmansk Region probably includes 700 species of vascular plants (Gorodkov 1953); this figure was corrected to 1160 species when the Flora was completed (Poyarkova 1966).

The structure of the Flora is traditional; it includes the main features of nomenclature, morphological descriptions, ecological data, distributional data and casual comments. The layout of the work was followed consistently from the first to the last volume of the Flora by all its contributors (Poyarkova 1954, Kuzeneva 1963).

The nomenclature is limited to accepted names and main synonyms, with references to protologues, but excluding typifications. Standard references include Flora Rossica (Ledebour 1841, Ledebour 1843, Ledebour 1847, Ledebour 1852), Flora of the USSR (Bobrov 1965), Perfiliev (1934), Perfiliev (1936), Cajander (1906), Holmberg (1922) for volume 1 only, Holmberg (1926), Holmberg (1931)f or volumes 1–3, Lindman (1926) and Hultén (1950) for volumes 2–5, Mishkin (1953) for volumes 3–5 and Hiitonen (1933) for volumes 4–5.

The information on the presence of a certain species in the territory was based largely on examination of herbarium specimens, except for some records derived solely from published sources (e.g. Hultén 1950) when foreign collections were inaccessible. Some species had been provisionally included in anticipation of actual records in the future; such records (e.g. Pteridium aquilinum, Botrychium lanceolatum and Stratiotes aloides) were largely confirmed later.

Data on ecology were derived from herbarium specimens and personal observations. Distribution areas were derived from references. Economic importance and use were mentioned when available. Illustrations were an important part of the work. Original drawings (complete species plates, main drawings with separate details) were made mostly by N.Z. Semenova-Tian-Shanskaya (378 plates); after her death, the work was finished by A.V. Dombrovskaya (55 plates) and T.N. Shishlova (4 plates).

The original idea was proposed to include lists of specimens examined for each species (standardised to cite: locality, time, collector). This idea was found unrealistic, and ultimately the distributional data were limited to verbal characteristics and maps (Kuzeneva 1963).

Maps are a very important part of the Flora; at that time, point occurrence distribution maps were extremely uncommon in regional treatments. As a rule, maps are provided for each species treated; the maps were compiled exclusively by E.G. Chernov, who had an extensive field experience in Murmansk Region and, at the same time, worked on the vegetation map of the territory (Chernov 1956, Chernov 1971). Generalised features of the vegetation map were treated as geobotanical districts (Gorodkov 1953: 5), whose limits were shown on each plant distribution map. Four vegetation types (districts) were delimited: tundra, forest tundra, sparse forest and oroarctic zone. This scheme evolved when the Flora proceeded: in volumes 1–3, the delimitation was rather coarse (Fig. 2), but in volumes 4–5, it became more detailed and realistic (Fig. 3).

Plant occurrences on the distribution maps were indicated by points; the points were based on herbarium specimens identified or seen by the authors of the corresponding taxonomic treatments. Due to this strict policy, distributional data published in Hultén (1950) were taken into account in treatments but never shown on maps. Herbarium records for 176 widely distributed species were complemented by hatched contours denoting the areas where the species were deemed common (hatch scale implies differences in frequency); those data were derived by E.G. Chernov from his vegetation map. Besides, 120 species were considered common and covering the whole territory, which was therefore completely hatched for those species. Altogether, the Flora contains 554 maps with distributional data for 1,073 species and 5 hybrids.

Original data collection: The Flora was largely based on herbarium collections, which were complemented by field observations for common plants. At that time, the main collections originated from Murmansk Region were deposited at the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE) and the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden (KPABG).

The collection of the Komarov Botanical Institute was the largest at the time. Based on example groups, we estimate the number of its Murmansk specimens available to the authors of the Flora at about 35,000. This collection was established mostly by expeditions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, starting from the Russian Arctic expedition in 1837 under the command of Karl E. von Baer (Baer 1837a, Baer 1837b, Sennikov and Kozhin 2018). The first large acquisition was received from A. Schrenk who travelled in Russian Lapland in 1839; his specimens were made available to C.F. von Ledebour and became the basis of his data from the territory in Flora Rossica (Ledebour 1841, Ledebour 1843, Ledebour 1847, Ledebour 1852). Another milestone was the expeditions of K. Regel in 1911–1913, whose outputs were summarised in a series of monographs (Regel 1927, Regel 1928, Regel 1923). After 1917, the territory was actively explored by several large academic expeditions, which resulted also in a large amount of botanical collections deposited at LE. Most notably, Yu.D. Zinserling travelled and collected in Khibiny Mts. (1925) and the eastern parts of the territory (1927–1928), whose vegetation he subsequently described (Zinserling 1929, Zinserling 1934, Zinserling 1935).

Besides the specimens collected by Russian collectors, the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE) possessed important exsiccata from early Finnish collectors, N.I. Fellman’s Plantæ Arcticæ Exsiccatæ distributed by the author through the Botanical Museum, University of Helsinki (Fellman 1869, Sennikov and Kozhin 2018) and F. Nylander’s specimens included in E.M. Fries’ Herbarium normale plantarum rariorum et criticarum Sueciae and distributed by the author through booksellers in Uppsala, Sweden (Fries 1837–1865, Väre 2007, Väre 2008). Despite the small number of specimens (Fellman: 360 specimens, Nylander: about 10 specimens), these collections were selected as representative samples of the whole flora, distributed to major Herbaria in various countries and widely consulted and cited in botanical publications. Besides the exsiccata, a set of duplicates collected by Finnish botanists (V. Brotherus, N.I. Fellman, M. Brenner, O. Kihlman) was received by LE from H before 1917.

Another large collection from Murmansk Region, which included a large number of specimens from historical and many recent expeditions, is kept at the Botanical Museum, University of Helsinki (Uotila 2013). The size of this collection is estimated at 25,000 specimens; about 2,000 specimens were distributed as duplicates in other Finnish Herbaria: Åbo Akademi University (TURA, now transferred to TUR), University of Oulu (OULU), University of Turku (TUR) etc. This collection was established in the 19^th century with expeditions organised by the Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica (summary of the holdings was published in Sælan et al. 1889) and much complemented with numerous expeditions and excursions to the north-western and south-western parts of present-day Murmansk Region in the first half of the 20^th century (Uotila 2013). During the preparation of the Flora, these collections were taken into account to a very minor extent (mostly the exsiccata and duplicate specimens from H, which were deposited at LE, and a few records derived from the Finnish botanical literature). The only exception was the treatment of Hieracium (Poyarkova 1966), for which some type specimens were requested on loan from H, S and UPS.

When the Flora was started, the young collections of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden were considered minor and complementary. When established, this Herbarium originally included collections from the Lapland Strict Nature Reserve, the Northern Research and Trade Expedition (now Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute), and early expeditions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to the Kola Peninsula. According to the first inventory, it numbered 2,000 specimens in 1934. Subsequently, the Herbarium received a set of specimens collected in botanical expeditions to the Kola Peninsula and also a number of duplicates transferred from LE and LECB. Since the local collections in Murmansk Region were very small and the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute was largely taxonomy-oriented and did not provide a proper coverage of the territory for understanding plant distributions in detail, the new floristic inventory required a massive effort to sample plants in less studied parts of the territory. Prior to the preparation of printed books, the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden organised numerous expeditions, which continued during the whole period of the preparation. The expeditions thoroughly covered the western part of Lake Imandra with the Tuloma River basin, the northwesternmost parts of the territory (Pechenga District, which was ceded to the USSR by Finland in 1944), the Voronya River basin from Lovozero to Gavrilovo, Lovozero Mts. and the western part of the Lovozero Lake basin, basins of several other large rivers (Varzuga, Strelna, Ponoy), the Kola Bay, a large part of Tersky Coast etc. When the northern part of the former Finnish Kuusamo District was transferred from Karelian ASSR to Murmansk Region in 1955, this territory was visited by special expeditions in 1956–1957 to fill the resulting gap in the botanical information. Among the most frequent participants and active collectors in these expeditions were O.I. Kuzeneva, E.G. Chernov, N.I. Orlova, R.N. Shlyakov, N.A. Avrorin and N.Z. Semenova-Tian-Shanskaya (scientists) and L.R. Ponomareva (preparator). A.I. Poyarkova, the future editor and supervisor of the project, also collected many specimens which, however, were deposited at LE. Some other persons, who revised particular taxonomic groups for the Flora, travelled to more accessible areas for smaller collections (Kuzeneva 1963, Shlyakov 1968).

As a result of this effort, the available collections had been rapidly increasing. After the work on the Flora had started, the number of specimens at KPABG reached 12,000 in 1950, whereas by the end of this work, in mid-1960s, it exceeded 40,000. This pace implies that due to the work on the Flora, the amount of collections at KPABG increased more than 20 times from the original figure of 2,000 (Kuzeneva 1963).

In 1949, the Herbarium of Kandalaksha Strict Nature Reserve was established and acquired specimens from the White and Barents sea coasts. By the end of 1960s, the collection consisted of 2,000 specimens, many of which have been studied by Flora's authors.

Altogether, according to our estimations, over 75,000 herbarium specimens (from LE and KPABG and, to a minor extent, from H) were used in preparation of the Flora. It was a nearly complete coverage of collections available in the USSR (except for the Herbarium of the Leningrad State University, LECB and Moscow State University, MW); the foreign collections understandably were not covered because of political restrictions and financial limitations of the times. Among the Russian collections, LECB was excluded with the historical collections of K. Regel and R.F. Nyman (Bubyreva 2013) and MW was omitted with the collections of M.I. Nazarov and N.S.Parfentyeva (Bagdasarova 2006); nevertheless, these omissions hardly caused any significant loss of information.

Mapped records vs. present-day knowledge: Since the Flora had been completed, the amount of collections changed in the following way. The holdings of KPABG continued growing (although less actively) until 1990s. Some specimens have been added recently to H, which resulted from joint Finnish-Russian expeditions in post-Soviet times (Uotila 2013, Väre 2017). The collections of LE increased mostly due to a large transfer of duplicates from KPABG; besides the duplicates of ordinary specimens, the whole set of holotypes was transferred from KPABG to LE in the 1980s. The amount of unique additions to LE is estimated at 10% of the former holdings. The collections of LECB and OULU increased insignificantly, while the collections of MW and KAND have grown more than five times.

At present, we have the following estimations of the amount of herbarium specimens collected from Murmansk Region and kept in public collections (holdings exceeding 1,000 specimens): KPABG – 45,000, LE – 40,000, H – 25,000, MW – 15,000, KAND – 10,000, LECB – 3,000, OULU – 1,500 and TUR – 1,200. This means that the coverage of the Flora dataset (duplicates excluded) is ca. 60% of the present-day herbarium holdings available from the territory.

1837–1965.

Other