The 76.000 sheets of the MGC-Cormof collection are grouped into 241 families (Figure 1), 1.551 genera (Figure 2), 6.158 species and 8.110 taxa (including infraspecific categories). Most of the specimens are angiosperms (93.97%), followed by ferns and fern allies (4.89%) and gymnosperms (1.14%). The main families in order of abundance are Compositae (10.2%), Leguminosae (9.7%), Gramineae (8.5%), Labiatae (7.5%), Caryophyllaceae (4.8%), Cruciferae (3.8%), Scrophulariaceae (3.5%), Cistaceae (3.1%), Umbelliferae (2.4%) and Liliaceae (2.1%). Main genera in order of abundance are Teucrium (2.48%), Silene (1.62%), Asplenium (1.43%), Linaria (1.20%), Quercus (1.10%), Centaurea (1.08%), Helianthemum (1.02%), Cistus (1.02%), Trifolium (1.01%) and Galium (1.01%).

It is important to mention that this collection contains a wide representation of plants from several Protected Areas of southern Spain (Cabezudo et al. 2005; Pérez Latorre et al. 1998, 1999, 2002), endemic species (Blanca et al. 2009; Salvo et al. 1983), threatened species (Blanca et al. 1999, 2000, 2009; Cabezudo et al. 2005; Salvo et al. 1983), invasive species (Dana et al. 2005), ornamental species and many weeds.

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida, Liliopsida, Filicopsida, Lycopsida, Coniferopsida, Equisetopsida, Ophioglossopsida, Gnetopsida, Taxopsida, Cycadopsida, Gingkgopsida, Psilotopsida.

Family: Acanthaceae, Aceraceae, Adiantaceae, Agavaceae, Aizoaceae, Alismataceae, Alliaceae, Amaranthaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Anacardiaceae, Anemiaceae, Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Aquifoliaceae, Araceae, Araliaceae, Araucariaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Aspidiaceae, Aspleniaceae, Athyriaceae, Azollaceae, Balsaminaceae, Bartramiaceae, Basellaceae, Begoniaceae, Berberidaceae, Betulaceae, Bignoniaceae, Blechnaceae, Bombacaceae, Boraginaceae, Botrychiaceae, Bromeliaceae, Buddlejaceae, Butomaceae, Buxaceae, Cactaceae, Callitrichaceae, Calyceraceae, Campanulaceae, Cannaceae, Capparaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Caricaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Casuarinaceae, Cecropiaceae, Celastraceae, Cephalotaxaceae, Ceratophyllaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cistaceae, Clethraceae, Clusiaceae, Cneoraceae, Combretaceae, Commelinaceae, Compositae, Convallariaceae, Convolvulaceae, Coriariaceae, Cornaceae, Corylaceae, Crassulaceae, Cruciferae, Cryptogrammaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Culcitaceae, Cunoniaceae, Cupressaceae, Cyatheaceae, Cycadaceae, Cynomoriaceae, Cyperaceae, Davalliaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae, Dicksoniaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Dipsacaceae, Dracaenaceae, Droseraceae, Dryopteridaceae, Ebenaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Elatinaceae, Empetraceae, Ephedraceae, Equisetaceae, Ericaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Escalloniaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fagaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Frankeniaceae, Gentianaceae, Geraniaceae, Gesneriaceae, Ginkgoaceae, Gleicheniaceae, Globulariaceae, Gramineae, Grammitidaceae, Grossulariaceae, Guttiferae, Haloragaceae, Hamamelidaceae, Hemionitidaceae, Hippochaetaceae, Hippuridaceae, Hydrangeaceae, Hydrocharitaceae, Hydrocotylaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, Hymenophyllaceae, Hypolepidaceae, Iridaceae, Isoetaceae, Juglandaceae, Juncaceae, Juncaginaceae, Labiatae, Lauraceae, Leguminosae, Lemnaceae, Lentibulariaceae, Liliaceae, Linaceae, Lycopodiaceae, Lythraceae, Magnoliaceae, Malpighiaceae, Malvaceae, Marsileaceae, Melastomataceae, Meliaceae, Melianthaceae, Menispermaceae, Molluginaceae, Monimiaceae, Monotropaceae, Moraceae, Musaceae, Myoporaceae, Myricaceae, Myrsinaceae, Myrtaceae, Najadaceae, Nephrolepidaceae, Neuradaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Oleaceae, Oleandraceae, Onagraceae, Ophioglossaceae, Orchidaceae, Orobanchaceae, Osmundaceae, Oxalidaceae, Paeoniaceae, Pandanaceae, Papaveraceae, Parnassiaceae, Passifloraceae, Phormiaceae, Phyladelphyae, Phytolaccaceae, Pinaceae, Piperaceae, Pittosporaceae, Plantaginaceae, Platanaceae, Plumbaginaceae, Podocarpaceae, Polemoniaceae, Polygalaceae, Polygonaceae, Polypodiaceae, Portulacaceae, Posidoniaceae, Potamogetonaceae, Primulaceae, Proteaceae, Psilotaceae, Pteridaceae, Punicaceae, Pyrolaceae, Rafflesiaceae, Ranunculaceae, Resedaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Ruppiaceae, Rutaceae, Salicaceae, Salviniaceae, Santalaceae, Sapindaceae, Sapotaceae, Saxifragaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Selaginellaceae, Simaroubaceae, Sinopteridaceae, Smilacaceae, Solanaceae, Sparganiaceae, Sterculiaceae, Strelitziaceae, Styracaceae, Symplocaceae, Tamaricaceae, Taxaceae, Taxodiaceae, Theligonaceae, Thymelaeaceae, Thymeleaceae, Tiliaceae, Tropaeolaceae, Typhaceae, Ulmaceae, Umbelliferae, Urticaceae, Valerianaceae, Verbenaceae, Violaceae, Viscaceae, Vitaceae, Vivianiaceae, Winteraceae, Woodsiaceae, Zamiaceae, Zannichelliaceae, Zingiberaceae, Zosteraceae, Zygophyllaceae

Tracheophytes, Cormophytes, Vascular Plants, Sunflowers, Legumes, True Grasses, Mints, Pinks, Crucifers or Mustard, Figworts, Rock Roses, Parsley or Carrot family, Lyli family, Germander, Campion, Petako Rauriki, Spurred Snapdragon, Oak, Knapweed, Rock Rose, Rock Rose, Clover, Bedstraw

Most of the data refer to the Western Mediterranean Region, mainly Southern Spain (Andalusia 82% of sheets) and Northern Morocco (2.17%). Andalusia is composed of 8 provinces, Malaga province being the most important with 53% of sheets, followed by Cádiz (8.77%) and Granada (8.50%). Moreover, 11% of the data refer to the rest of Spain and 7% from 50 countries of Europe, Africa and South America mainly (Figures 3 and 4).

The MGC-Cormof collection has a large number of plants from all the main Protected Areas of Malaga province, including Natural Parks (Sierra de las Nieves, Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama, and Montes de Málaga) and Natural Areas (Los Reales de Sierra Bermeja, Torcal de Antequera, and Desfiladero de los Gaitanes), as well as other Protected Areas of southern Spain, some of which are Natural Parks shared with Malaga (e.g. Los Alcornocales, Sierra de Grazalema) and the Protected Landscape Corredor Verde (Green Corridor) del Guadiamar. Table 1 shows the approximate number of sheets from these protected areas. Moreover, many plants considered as agricultural weeds and others taken from roads and cities as well as ornamental plants (910 sheets) from public parks and gardens of the city of Malaga, are included. Sixty-three percent of the specimens are georeferenced. All of them have been referenced by MGRS coordinate system, which have been transformed into geographical coordinate before uploading to the GBIF Portal by Herbar 3.7.1 software (Pando et al. 1996–2011). The accuracy of the coordinate grids in MGRS system varies from 1 m² to 10 km² and the accuracy in geographical coordinate varies from 1 to 7071 m².

34°0'0"S and 51°42'0"N; 116°2'60"W and 83°25'48"E

Most plants are from Southern Spain (Andalusia), Malaga province being the most widely represented area, the aim being to cover the widest degree of plant biodiversity for this territory. In addition, the collection contains plants from Northern Morocco and several places from the rest of Spain and countries from Europe, Africa and South America.

The plants of this collection were mainly gathered by researchers of the Botany Area of the Department of Plant Biology at University of Malaga, as well as by members of the herbarium. A small component of the collection comes from exchanges or donations from other research centres or researchers.

Before incorporating new plants in the herbarium, the steps described below are followed.

First, the material is pressed and dried, mounted on double A2 standard size (42 × 59.4 cm) sheets which perfectly cover and protect the specimen. Inside each sheet, an identification label provides the following information: taxonomy, country, province, county, locality, georeference, date, ecology, collectors and determinations. To kill any insects contained in the sheets, they are frozen at -20 °C for 72 hours. Periodically, the herbarium room is fumigated. The specimens are kept in compact shelving cabinets and arranged taking into account three main taxonomic groups: pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms. Within each group, the specimens are alphabetically arranged by families, genera and species.

Every specimen of the MGC-Cormof collection has been identified by researchers of the Botany Area of the Department of Plant Biology at University of Malaga. Moreover, 40% of the specimens of this collection have subsequently been taxonomically revised for regional or national studies of flora or taxonomical revisions. Each taxonomic modification is incorporated into the database.

The dataset is analysed in search of digitalisation errors before uploading to the GBIF Portal. This check is carried out by the DarwinTest v3.2 tool (Ortega-Maqueda and Pando 2008), provided by the Spanish GBIF Node. This tool looks for mistakes in taxonomy, dates, geospatial information, collectors, identifiers, etc.

Object name: Darwin Core Archive MGC Herbarium of the University of Malaga (Spain): MGC-Cormof dataset

Character encoding: UTF-8

Format name: Darwin Core Archive format

Format version: 1.0

Distribution: http://www.gbif.es:8080/ipt/resource.do?r=mgc_cormof

Date of metadata creation: 2013-04-04

Metadata language: English

Hierarchy level: Dataset

User license: The MGC-Cormof dataset is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License: http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/

DarwinCore elements: Thirty-two (32) DarwinCore elements (http://purl.org/dc/terms/) included in the dataset published through the GBIF network. These are: id, preparations, typeStatus, eventDate, family, specificEpithet, minimumElevationInMeters, decimalLongitude, identifiedBy, occurrenceRemarks, dateIdentified, individualCount, collectionCode, minimumDepthInMeters, kingdom, coordinateUncertaintyInMeters, infraspecificEpithet, institutionCode, country, stateProvince, modified, recordedBy, genus, cientificNameAuthorship, maximumDepthInMeters, locality, recordNumber, catalogNumber, scientificName, maximumElevationInMeters, decimalLatitude, basisOfRecord

Object name: Universidad de Málaga: MGC-Cormof

DiGIR information: http://gbif.cie.uma.es/digir/DiGIR.php

Character encoding: iso-8859-1

Format name: Darwin Core

Format version: 1.2

Distribution: http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/8105/

Date of metadata creation: 2009-02-19

Metadata language: English

Hierarchy level: Dataset