About HERBSHARE

HERBSHARE Version 0.1 (Beta) | GitHub

Motivation

The digitization of specimen data—the conversion of physical samples into accessible digital content—combined with data science workflows is driving the discovery and use of herbarium collections at an unprecedented scale. HERBSHARE—HERBarium Spectral Hub for Advancing Research and Exploration—is a platform designed to support the next generation of specimen digitization through the exploration and use of reflectance spectroscopy data from herbarium specimens.

Our motivation is to make spectral data from herbarium specimens more accessible, usable, and impactful. Through HERBSHARE, we aim to facilitate discovery, accelerate research, and unlock the hidden potential of these vast plant collections—transforming them into dynamic laboratories that can inform our understanding of biodiversity, environmental change, and the future of plant science.

Citation

If you use HERBSHARE in your research, please cite:

@software{HERBSHARE,
  author = {Guzmán J.A., White D.M., and Cavender-Bares J.},
  title = {HERBSHARE: Herbaria Spectral Hub for Advancing Research and Exploration},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  version = {v0.1-beta},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20278894}
}

Funding

The development of HERBSHARE is supported by:

Licence

HERBSHARE is released under the MIT License.

Contribute

HERBSHARE is a community-driven platform that grows through open-science and collaboration. The application harvests spectral datasets from publicly available repositories, with a focus on standardized, well-documented contributions. To ensure data can be efficiently discovered, integrated, and reused, we strongly encourage contributors to follow common data standards from the IHerbSpec initiative, including the use of the IHerbSpec metadata and depositing datasets in the IHerbSpec-Dataverse repository. These standards enable seamless data harvesting and maximize the visibility and impact of your work.

You can contribute in the following ways:

Share your specimen spectra data by following the IHerbSpec guidelines and depositing your data in the IHerbSpec dataverse.
Help develop open-source tools and workflows that use HERBSHARE for research and analysis.
Report problems and help us identify, debug, and resolve issues (e.g., GitHub Issues page).

Disclaimer

All information made available on HERBSHARE, including any information, outputs, or materials generated by HERBSHARE, is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, in good faith, and without representations or warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including, without limitation, warranties of accuracy, completeness, reliability, adequacy, validity, availability, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, HERBSHARE and its affiliates, contributors, and operators disclaim any and all liability for any loss, damage, claim, cost, or expense of any kind, whether direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive, arising out of or in connection with your access to, use of, or reliance on HERBSHARE or any information made available on or generated by HERBSHARE. Your use of HERBSHARE and any reliance on its content, outputs, or materials is solely at your own risk.

Contact

For questions, bug reports, or feature requests, please visit our GitHub Issues page or contact the development team.

Last updated: 2026-05-05

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