With an estimated 20,000 items, the wood collection—xylotheque—is a special collection within the Herbarium Berolinense (B) and is probably the second most important collection of its kind in Germany. The collection is of interest to researchers studying colonialism and the Botanical Garden’s holdings prior to the 1943 fire, as old wood samples can be correlated with lost herbarium material or plants from the garden's living collection that no longer exist. The collection is also of great importance for historical and restoration reasons. Until now, the collection has been catalogued using handwritten index cards, with the last revision taking place in 1958.
In 2023, the index cards were scanned for the digital cataloguing of the wood collection. As part of the collaboration between the Digital Network for Collections and the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, the handwritten information on the cards is now being transcribed with the help of AI. The results of this initial machine-based capture, together with digitized images of the cards, are being made available in an online tool for further processing and correction. The aim is to create a preliminary database to facilitate the planned inventory of the collection.