Bellflowers as bellwethers: how many unappreciated early records are there in herbarium collections?

A comparison of specimens of British and Irish Campanulaceae in the Natural History Museum herbarium revealed many specimens pre-dating the first vice-county (v.c.) record on the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI) Distribution Database. A total of 232 new first vice-county records were recognised, out of the 1860 species–v.c. combinations available in this family. These specimens encompassed a wide range of collectors, dates and localities. The mean age difference was 60 years (55 years for neophytes; 61 years for native species), and the greatest increase was 156 years.