Herbaria viva: proto-genebanks of Mendel’s contemporaries in Moravia

Abstract Early nineteenth-century plant collections in Moravia functioned as organised systems for managing crop diversity prior to the emergence of modern genetics. Focusing on the herbaria viva established in Lednice, Brno and neighbouring estates, living plant collections were used to introduce, evaluate, and propagate cultivated species under local conditions. These sites supported coordinated practices of selection, hybridisation, and dissemination, forming a regional network for the circulation of plant material. Such activities may be understood as an early form of proto-genebank thinking, in which biological variation was systematically maintained and utilised. This framework situates Mendel’s work within an existing experimental tradition rooted in plant breeding practice.