Building a DNA barcode library for the Canadian flora using herbarium collections

Researchers have built a DNA barcode library for the vascular plant flora of Canada based entirely on herbarium collections. DNA barcode libraries are important to facilitate plant identification for a variety of studies including analysis and regulation of supplements, food, and environmental or ancient DNA. The scale of the study surpasses previous library-building efforts, providing barcodes for 98 percent of Canada's vascular plant species (5,076 of 5,190). https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213183617.htm