Type Collection of the National Herbarium of Uzbekistan (TASH)

The National Herbarium of Uzbekistan (TASH), housed in the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in Tashkent, is the largest botanical collection in Central Asia included in the top-100 greatest herbaria of the world. It contains over 1.5 million specimens collected since the 1831–1834 from all regions of Central Asia and some other regions of the world, including a rich set of type specimens. The type material is stored separately from the general collection, which is divided into Central Asian section stored in the greater herbarium hall and relatively small foreign section placed in the smaller hall; each section is organized in taxonomic order. The Central Asian section of TASH contains the largest number of Central Asian specimens in the world and includes historical (memorial) collections of G.S. Karelin and I.P. Kirilov, E. Regel, A.G. Schrenk, O.A. and B.A. Fedtschenko, M.G. Popov, A.I. Vvedensky and other first explorers of flora of this region. The following collections became the basis of the national herbarium of Uzbekistan: • Herbarium of the Bureau of Soil and Botanical Research of the Migration Department of Russian government in Tashkent founded in 1909. Besides local collections made within the framework of investigation of flora and vegetation of Central Asia, this herbarium contained duplicates of classical materials received from LE and MW. • Herbarium of the Turkestan State University founded in 1920 on the basis of above-mentioned collection of the Bureau of Soil and Botanical Research. Originally this herbarium was called Herbarium Horti Botanici Universitatis Asiae Mediae, later – Herbarium Universitatis Taschkenticae, acronym TAK. The Turkestan State University was established in 1918, it was given a name of Central Asian State University from 1923 to 1960, Tashkent State University in 1960–2000, and National University of Uzbekistan since 2000. • Herbarium of the Sector of plant resources under the Committee of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR (the precursor of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan) founded in 1937. In 1940, the Sector of plant resources was reorganized into the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR. Originally this herbarium was called Herbarium Instituti Botanici Sectionis Uzbekistanicae Academiae Scientiarum URSS, later – Herbarium Instituti Botanici Academiae Scientiarum Uzbekistanicae, acronym TASH. • Herbarium of the Nature Museum of Uzbekistan founded in 1923 (Herbarium Musei Naturae Uzbekistaniae, acronym RNMUT). • Herbarium of the Institute of chemistry of natural compounds of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR established in 1956. In 1987–1988, on the initiative of Acad. Prof. K.Z. Zakirov and Prof. U.P. Pratov, above-mentioned herbaria and some collections from the Samarkand State University were integrated into the Central Herbarium of Uzbekistan housed in the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences; the united collection retained the international acronym TASH. In 2018, it was renamed the National Herbarium of Uzbekistan. TASH was one of the most important sources of information in the compilation of numerous fundamental taxonomical treatments, such as "Flora of the USSR" (in 30 vol., 1934–1964), "Flora of Kazakhstan" (in 9 vol., 1956–1966), "Flora of Kyrgyzstan" (in 11 vol., 1952–1962), "Flora of Tajikistan" (in 10 vol., 1957–1991), the first edition of "Flora of Uzbekistan" (in 6 vol., 1941–1962) and the first four vol. of the new edition of "Flora of Uzbekistan" (2016, 2017, 2019, 2022), "Conspectus Florae Asiae Mediae" (1963–2015), and others. The digitizing and creation of the database of the TASH collection began within the framework of state project "Botanical-geographical zoning of Uzbekistan and creation of a unified database of plant diversity. Part I – Mountain Central Asian province" (2012–2014) and Part II – Turan province (2015–2017). Herbarium scanners and other equipment for digitizing were obtained within the framework of several projects, including the "Digitization of type specimens of the Central Herbarium of Uzbekistan" (2013–2014) with the financial support of the Andrew Mellon Foundation (USA), "Creation of a central database of plant diversity in Uzbekistan" (2012–2014) funded by Small Grants Program of Global Environment Facility's (SGP GEF). In addition, some equipment for herbarium digitizing has been donated by the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and "Central Asian Green Road" project supported by Korea Forest Service and Korea National Arboretum. The online version of digital herbarium TASH and the Virtual Guide to the Flora of Uzbekistan (https://floragridmap.uz/) have been created within the framework of joint project of the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan and Succow Foundation "Virtual Flora of Central Asia – CAViF" (2018-2021). The project was implemented as part of the funding program "Pilot measures for partnerships in science, research and education with the Central Asian and South Caucasus countries", financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).