NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY VIRTUAL HERBARY OF FLORA AND FUNGI Leonor Costa Maia, Ana Odete Santos Vieira, Ariane Luna Peixoto, João Renato Stehmann, Maria Regina Barbosa, Mariângela Menezes, Dora Canhos

Abstract

The National Institute of Science and Technology – Virtual Herbarium was created in 2009, with the aim of offering quality data infrastructure for public access, integrating information from the country's plant and fungal collections and repatriating data on collections carried out on Brazilian soil, deposited in herbaria abroad. The innovative focus of the project stands out, related to the joint online availability of data and images from the collections of more than 75% of active Brazilian herbaria and 21 herbaria abroad, in a free and open way, in addition to actions aimed at improving data quality and increasing knowledge of the country's plants and fungi.