New expedition: Ferns and Fern Allies of Tennessee

We’re proud to introduce the maiden expedition of the larger “Digitizing the Herbarium Collections of Tennessee” project. The first expedition is a sneak peak into: the University of Tennessee and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga collections, and we’re starting with the Ferns and their allies! It is called Ferns and Fern Allies of Tennessee, Part 1.

Tennessee is centrally located in a geologically and botanically diverse region of the United States, making it critically important to understanding eastern North American biogeography and floristics. Our state spans ecologically variable environments from mountains to barrens to the Mississippi River floodplains. Due to a complicated evolutionary history, Tennessee is a botanical crossroads for floristic elements from the Gulf Coastal Plain, the eastern temperate forests, and the Midwestern prairies. We have created this expedition to begin the process of databasing ALL of Tennessee’s herbarium specimens into the modern digital arena.

Please, join us as we introduce these historic collections to the information age!

@calebadampowell and @joeyshaw, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga