Herbarium Collections (Types, General and Reference)

[Bryan Simon]

We are in the fortunate position at the Queensland Herbarium of planning for
a new herbarium and we are having to give some thought to the organisation
of the herbarium collections.

At present the flowering plants of the general collection is arranged
alphabetically as one large collection (monocots and dicots mixed), with the
gymnosperms, ferns and lower plants being separate.  Within the families an
Australian collection (with further geographical division into Australian
states and Queensland Pastoral Districts) is separated from a non-Australian
collection.

The  types are placed at the end of each family, but we have plans to
isolate these in a separate fire-proof room in the new herbarium.

In addition we have a systematically arranged reference collection adjacent
to the plant identification lab.

The basic rationale for alphabetical arrangement of the general collection
is for the ease of filing away specimens by non-botanically trained staff
and for the systematically arranged reference collection to assist in the
routine identification of plant material.

We now have the opportunity of starting afresh in the arrangement of the
collections and we would appreciate input from botanists and herbarium
curators on the wisdom of continuing with the present system or trying
something new.  Some staff members are in favour of a systematic arrangement
for the general herbarium but I personally favour the alphabetic approach
from the point of view of the ease of putting away the large volume of new
herbarium into the collection.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Bryan Simon
Bryan Simon
Queensland Herbarium
Meiers Road
Indooroopilly
Queensland 4068
Australia

Phone 61 7 3896 9319
Fax 61 7 3896 9624
EMail bsimon at gil.com.au