The Herbarium Handbook
The 3rd edition of this standard reference for all botanists, herbarium managers and technicians involved with the making and maintenance of herbarium collections. Many figures and text illustrations.
The Herbarium Handbook
(Revised), Eds. D. Bridson and L. Forman, 1998, xii + 334 pp. An essential reference work for herbarium managers and technicians and for all those involved with the making and maintenance of herbarium collections.
Contains chapters on the conservation of herbarium sheets and on the collection and curation of the larger algae. The chapter on computers has been completely rewritten and much enlarged, as have those on pests and treatments, larger fungi and economic botany. The sections on liquid preservatives and on pesticides have been revised to take into account new health and safety regulations. An essential reference work for herbarium managers and technicians and for all those who are involved with the making and maintenance of herbarium collections.
The freshly pressed herbarium handbook is a manual for those interested in starting their own herbarium, or for those who are otherwise interested in the plant pressing process. It is a compilation of the information I wish I had access to when I started my own plant pressing journey! It includes:
Within Texas there are about twenty-seven active herbaria, most of which are associated with universities or colleges. The three largest herbaria are the Plant Resources Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which houses the University of Texas and the Lundell herbaria (ca. 1,100,000 specimens), the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in Fort Worth (ca. 1.01 million specimens), and the Texas A&M University-Tracy herbaria (over 217,000 specimens). The oldest date recorded for a Texas herbarium is for the Albert Ruth Herbarium of Texas Christian University (1873), which was later combined with the herbarium at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. In 2006, the Botanical Research Institute acquired the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History herbarium in part, and completely by 2011. Thus, the Albert Ruth collections are now located at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. By 1900 Sam Houston State University, the University of Texas, and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor had started their own herbaria. Many of the large herbaria in Texas were initiated in the 1930s and 1940s. These included the Tracy Herbarium (1930) and those at Our Lady of the Lake College (1932), Southern Methodist University (1944), Sul Ross State University (1946), and Stephen F. Austin State University (1949). A large number of herbaria were founded between 1960 and 1978, reflecting the expansion in university campuses across the state, including Howard Payne University, West Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University, University of Texas-Pan American, and Angelo State Universities, as well as UT El Paso, South Plains College, and Southwest Texas Junior College.
Most herbaria in Texas concentrate on flowering plants of Texas, the southwestern United States, and Mexico, but the herbarium of Southern Methodist University has a notable collection of fungi, and the Tracy Herbarium has substantial collections of bryophytes and lichens. Many small herbaria are maintained primarily for teaching purposes and to serve as aids in the identification of local flora, but the larger university herbaria are integral parts of graduate teaching programs and serve as the bases for research on diverse plant groups and regional flora and vegetation surveys. Using herbaria as their primary source of data, scientists working in Texas have produced numerous books including Grasses of the Southwestern United States by F. Gould (1951), Ferns and Fern Allies of Texas by D. S. Correll (1956), Shinner's Spring Flora of the Dallas-Fort Worth Area Texas by L. H. Shinner (1958), Legumes of Texas by B. L. Turner (1959), Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas by D. S. Correll and M. C. Johnston (1970), Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southwestern United States by D. S. and H. B. Correll (1972), and Grasses of Texas by F. Gould (1975). Support for herbaria has come primarily from the universities that house them and from private donations, but the cost of maintaining an herbarium has forced a consolidation in recent years. The Robert Runyon Herbarium was incorporated into the Plant Resources Center at Austin. The University of Houston Herbarium was incorporated into the Herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Houston, and the SMU Herbarium has become the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
Traditionally, the primary importance of herbarium specimens was related to questions of taxomony, the science that includes identification, nomenclature, and classification of objects. Ideally, this would be done through the study of live plants but, when this is not practical, referring to a collection of preserved plants is important. Beyond their customary value to taxonomy, herbarium collections have become crucial for a wide array of studies including such things as reconstruction of plant phylogeny, the spread and habitat preferences of invasive species, population trends of rare plants, identifying priority sites for conservation, pollination ecology, education, forensic studies, ethnobotanical studies, and phenology studies to name a few.
As with any herbarium, the collections at Brown consist of dried and pressed specimens mounted on sheets of archival paper. Each specimen has a label that includes important information about the specimens identity and also where, when, and by whom it was collected.
There are about twenty-seven active herbaria in Texas and the three largest collection are housed by the Plant Resources Center at the UT Austin, BRIT in Fort Worth, and Texas A&M University. The Albert Ruth Herbarium of Texas Christian University (which was combined with the herbarium at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History) has the oldest recorded date for an herbarium specimen in the state, 1873. The Texas Woman's University Herbarium was one of the few herbaria initiated in early 1900s in the state of Texas, along with herbaria at Sam Houston State University, the University of Texas, and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Many of the large herbaria in Texas were initiated later, in the 1930s and 1940s, and a large number of herbaria were founded between 1960 and 1978, reflecting the expansion of university campuses across the state ("HERBARIA." The Handbook of Texas Online).
After the World War II, the collection was completely neglected and forgotten until one of our lab coordinators, Reta Smiddy Foreman, re-discovered it in the Old Science Building in 1976. The specimens were overcrowded into two big metal cases hidden in a small closet, which was not in use at the time. After the renovation of the building in 1978, there was no room for the herbarium and the cases were stored in the hallway. The metal cases, with tightly closing gasketed doors, were unopened for years and therefore most of the collection is still in very good shape today (the colors of most flowers still show), nevertheless approximately 20-25% of the specimens are in urgent need of repair, according to our estimates. Few specimens are beyond repair. The whole collection is in urgent need of being remounted on modern, acid-free paper sheets.
The Australian National Herbarium (ANH) is the focal core of the Centre and is one of the three largest plant collections in Australia. It is unique among the Australian Herbaria in having a national focus for its collections, acquisition and research programs. The main herbarium collections are housed on two sites in Canberra – on CSIRO PI site and at the ANBG, with a specialised rainforest collection at Cairns, north Queensland.
The primary platform for desktop computing is PC-based running Windows, generally Windows 2000 or Windows XP, with the Microsoft office suite of products. Several Macintosh computers are available for scientific applications that require this platform. The institutional databases (plant names, herbarium specimens, photographs, etc.) are based on Oracle running on Sun computers under a Unix operating system and are accessible directly through the network or through a browser web interface.
In general staff have their own computers. There are a number of shared access computers in the herbarium and map room, on CSIRO or DEH networks. These computers are available for consultation of the database and other network resources and for use by visitors. Users will have to log on with an appropriate CSIRO or DEH user name and password.
Lee Halasz is the Building Manager for the ANH building on the CSIRO site. Lee is based in the Computer Room, on Level 1 of Building 502 (the ‘old wing’ of the herbarium) and can be contacted on 6246 5510. The Deputy Building Manager is John Connors (6246 5114 or 6246 5534), who can be contacted for urgent matters in the absence of the Building Manager. The Building Manager’s role is to co-ordinate the maintenance, and where necessary, the refurbishment, of the internal and external features of the herbarium. Where necessary, the Building Manager is involved in the purchase and disposal of furniture and appliances.
The herbarium has several cameras for use for by staff. Contact Serkan Alasya 6246 5506 for a set-up suitable for photographing herbarium sheets. Andrew Slee 6246 5114 uses, looks after and takes bookings for a 35mm film camera with standard and close-up lens, tripod and flash equipment, and also a digital camera.
I am responsible for leading on the curation of the Herbarium collections. I manage a team of Senior Curator-Botanists and Curator-Botanists to curate and update the c.7 million herbarium specimens at Kew, facilitating access for research purposes. 041b061a72