No abstract

Herbarium collections shape our understanding of the world’s flora and are crucial for addressing global change and biodiversity conservation. The formation of such natural history collections, however, are not free from sociopolitical issues of immediate relevance. Despite increasing efforts addressing issues of representation and colonialism in natural history collections, herbaria have received comparatively less attention. While it has been noted that the majority of plant specimens are housed in the global North, the extent of this disparity has not been rigorously quantified to date. Here, by analyzing over 85 million specimen records and surveying herbaria across the globe, we assess the colonial legacy of botanical collections and how we may move towards a more inclusive future. We demonstrate that colonial exploitation has contributed to an inverse relationship between where plant biodiversity exists in nature and where it is housed in herbaria. Such disparities persist in herbaria across physical and digital realms despite overt colonialism having ended over half a century ago, suggesting ongoing digitization and decolonization efforts have yet to alleviate colonial-era discrepancies. We emphasize the need for acknowledging the inconvenient history of herbarium collections and the implementation of a more equitable, global paradigm for their collection, curation, and use.

Musa argentii Gogoi & Borah (Musaceae), a new species, is described and illustrated from Lohit District, Arunachal Pradesh, India based on observed morphological characteristics in the field. Its distribution and habitat are described, and a key to the species is provided.

Impatiens siangensis Gogoi, a new species, is described and illustrated from Arunachal Pradesh, India. The new species differs from I. marianae Hooker by the absence of white blotches on the upper leaf surface, flowers only partially purple, bracts ovate, glabrous, lateral sepals glabrous, dorsal petal glabrous, navicular, lower sepal with straight purple streaks and spur almost straight.  The new species differs from I. porrecta Wallich in having stems, leaves, and floral parts glabrous, stems branched, flowers partially purple, lower sepal navicular with straight purple streaks and spur almost straight.

A new species Impatiens paramjitiana is described and illustrated from Siang valley of Arunachal Pradesh, India. This species is similar to I. apsotis Hook. f. in general floral shapes but differs having spirally arranged leaves, shallowly serrate leaf margins, deep purple flowers, lateral sepals purple, capsule turgid at the middle.