Wood Collection and Seed Index
For many years the pieces in the Wood Collection of the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences came from results of the introduction of exotic and ornamental trees in the Průhonice Park. With 2659 items in the collection it is among the three largest collections in the world. The collection was started with a private collection from Miroslav Kučera, who collected samples here and abroad, but who also exchanged samples. The collection is used for educational purposes; cones, seeds and fruits, and wood and bark are important discerning traits for determining individual taxa.
The collection is made up of 4 individual groups: :
- Wood Collection I. – Gymnospermae
This group contains seeds and cones of gymnospermous woody species. Currently it has 1913 specimens.
- Wood Collection II. – Angiospermae
This group contains seeds and fruit from deciduous tree species. Currently it has 255 specimens.
- Wood Collection III.
This group contains 9x15x1-3 cm samples of wood, cut radially, tangentially and horizontally. Currently it has 464 specimens.
- Wood Collection IV.
This group contains 16 x 21 cm samples of bark from deciduous and evergreen tree species. Currently it has 27 specimens.
The annually published Seed Index (
Index Seminum) is a major tool that includes inventories of seeds that the Institute exchanges with other botanical institutes and gardens under the assumption that all conditions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) will be met.
