Digitization of the historical Herbarium of Giovanni Giannini at Pisa (PI-GIANN)

The herbarium digitization aligns with global efforts to modernise natural collection data and facilitate broad reuse. In this framework, the Herbarium of Giovanni Giannini (1793–1871) conserved in the Herbarium of the University of Pisa (international code PI) was digitized. The Herbarium is composed by 25 packages of plants, algae, fungi, and lichens. Metadata were entered into the online database Virtual Herbaria JACQ and mirrored into a personalized virtual Herbarium of the Botanic Museum. After the completion of the digitization process, the number of specimens preserved in the Herbarium amounts to 1,314. Besides Giannini, who collected 98.5% of the specimens, four other collectors are represented: Benedetto Puccinelli, Lorenzo Chiostri, Pietro Savi, and Attilio Tassi. Most specimens were collected in Tuscany in the province of Lucca (72%). Based on specimens conserved in PI-GIANN, Centaurea phrygia subsp. pseudophrygia should be considered as at least historically occurring in Tuscany, while Euphrasia officinalis subsp. kerneri is newly recorded as historically occurring in the province of Lucca. The digitization and revision of PI-GIANN herbarium provide a re-evaluation of a historically important collection, preserving valuable historical occurrences, including several Italian endemic, alien, threatened, or locally extinct species.