National Herbarium of New South Wales

The National Herbarium of New South Wales was established in 1853. The Herbarium has a collection of more than 1.4 million plant specimens, making it the second largest collection of pressed, dried plant specimens in Australia,[1] including scientific and historically significant collections and samples of Australian flora gathered by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during the voyage of HMS Endeavour in 1770.[2]

National Herbarium of New South Wales
Maiden in the Herbarium Royal Botanic Gardens c 1895
Established1853 (1853)
AddressMrs Macquaries Road, Sydney, NSW, 2000
Location
Sydney
,
New South Wales
,
Australia
Coordinates(−33.865390, 151.217535)
WebsiteNational Herbarium of NSW

The Herbarium is a centre for Australian plant research. These specimens are used for studies of Australian native plants, their relationships and classification. A botanical information service is also provided including native plant identifications.[3]

The National Herbarium is located in the Robert Brown Building at the Royal Botanic Garden on Mrs Macquaries Road in Sydney. In June 2018 plans to relocate the Herbarium to a new purpose built Centre of Innovation in Plant Sciences to be located at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan were announced.

In addition to two journals, Telopea[4] and Cunninghamia,[5] the herbarium is responsible for the online database (and keys) to NSW Flora, PlantNet.[6]

The Index Herbariorum Code for the National Herbarium of New South Wales is NSW.[7]

History

The Herbarium began in 1853 when Charles Moore, Director of the Botanic Garden, assembled approximately 1,800 native specimens.[8] However, the establishment date is said to be 1896 by the encyclopedia of Australian Science.[9]

Buildings

1901 – 1982: A purpose built building to house the Herbarium collection and a botanical museum designed by the Government Architect opened in 1901.[10][11][12] The building was known as Maiden's Herbarium.[13] It is now known as the Anderson Building and is used for administration and contains the Maiden Theatre, in memory of Joseph Henry Maiden, a previous Botanic Garden's Director.[14]

1982 – 2018: The Robert Brown Building opened in 1982.[13] The new Herbarium building was named in honour of colonial botanist Robert Brown. It has three levels when it was opened in 1982 by Neville Wran, housing the herbarium collection, staff offices, a laboratory, scanning electron microscope and full drying room and library. A decade later, a fourth level was added to provide more work spaces and shelving and a sloping roof to stop leaks.[15][16]

2019 – onwards: In June 2018 plans to relocate the Herbarium to a new purpose built Centre of Innovation in Plant Sciences to be located at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan were announced.[17]

Collection

The collection has a worldwide scope with an emphasis on plants of New South Wales and Australian flora including flowering plants, conifers, cycads, ferns, bryophytes, lichens, macroalgae and fungi.[18][19] The collection includes 805 of the specimens Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander collected.[20]

Specimen records from the collection are contributed to Australia's Virtual Herbarium (AVH), a collaborative project of the Commonwealth, state and territory herbaria in Australia.[21]

Digitisation

More than 7,000 of the specimens were digitised[2] as part of the Global Plants Initiative.[22] These digitised specimens form part of the Australasian Virtual Herbarium, an online resource available for anyone to use. On 4 June 2018 the announcement that the National Herbarium of NSW would close while the collection of plant specimens was relocated from the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney to a purpose-built facility at Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan included the plans to digitise 1.43 million herbarium plant specimens.[23]

Botanical illustration

The first botanical illustrator at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Margaret Flockton, was appointed in 1901 when the National Herbarium opened.[24]

Publications

The Herbarium publishes the journal, Telopea, formerly entitled Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium.[25][26] The journal covers botany in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, specialising in the flora of New South Wales.[4]

The herbarium also publishes an online key to the plants of New South Wales, together with their descriptions via PlantNet[6] This online resource is based largely on the Flora of New South Wales[27]

Daniel Solander Library

The library at the Royal Botanic Garden is part of the National Herbarium.[28] It was established in 1852 and is named after Daniel Solander[29] who was employed in 1768 by Joseph Banks to accompany him on James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific.[30][31]

See also

References
  1. Thiers, B. (2020 - continuously updated). National Herbarium of New South Wales Collections Summary. Index Herbariorum. A global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium. Available from: NSW Collections Summary (accessed 21 August 2020)
  2. Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust (N.S.W.) (1981), Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Annual Report 2014-15 (PDF), Govt. Printer, ISSN 0810-2538, archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2017, retrieved 7 February 2017
  3. "Royal Botanic Gardens (Sydney, N.S.W.). – People and organisations". Trove. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  4. "Telopea". The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  5. "Cunninghamia (journal)". Royal Botanic Garden Sydeney. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  6. "NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE A comprehensive botanical treatment in an Electronic format". National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  7. Index Herbariorum code for the National Herbarium of New South Wales Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  8. "Herbarium". Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  9. "Encyclopedia of Australian Science: National Herbarium of New South Wales". Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  10. "BOTANICAL MUSEUM AND NATIONAL HERBARIUM". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. LXXI (2123). New South Wales, Australia. 16 March 1901. p. 662. Retrieved 7 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "BOTANICAL MUSEUM AND HERBARIUM". Evening News (10, 532). New South Wales, Australia. 12 March 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 7 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. National Herbarium of New South Wales; Royal Botanic Gardens (Sydney, N.S.W.) (1992), The National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, retrieved 7 February 2017
  13. "Sydney Architecture Images – The Royal Botanic Gardens". www.sydneyarchitecture.com. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  14. "Botanic Gardens, Anderson Building". Sydney – City and Suburbs. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  15. Wilson, Karen (2012). 'Another Significant Anniversary' in "The Gardens", Summer 2012–2013.
  16. "Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain | NSW Environment & Heritage". NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  17. "$60 million win for NSW's vital botanic sciences". The Royal Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  18. "National Herbarium of New South Wales". Resources of Australian Herbaria. Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  19. Stacey, Robyn; Hay, Ashley, 1971–; National Herbarium of New South Wales (2004), Herbarium, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-84277-8CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. Reid, Georgina (12 November 2014). "$100 Million Dollars Worth of Plants - The Planthunter". The Planthunter. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  21. "About AVH". Australia's Virtual Herbarium. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  22. "Global Plants on JSTOR". plants.jstor.org. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  23. "National Herbarium of New South Wales". The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  24. Lesley Elkan and Catherine Wardrop (2014). "Margaret Flockton at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney". Dictionary of Sydney. Dictionary of Sydney Trust. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  25. "Royal Botanic Gardens". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  26. National Herbarium and Botanical Museum (New South Wales) (1900), Telopea, Government printer, ISSN 0312-9764
  27. Harden, G.J (ed) 1990–2002. Flora of New South Wales, Vol 1-Vol 4. NSW University Press. 1990. ISBN 9780868401560.
  28. "Library". The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  29. "IK iFacts – Daniel Solander – Linnaeus Apostle". www.ikfoundation.org. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  30. Duyker, Edward (1998), Nature's argonaut : Daniel Solander 1733–1782 : naturalist and voyager with Cook and Banks, Miegunyah Press, ISBN 978-0-522-84720-8
  31. Rauschenberg, Roy Anthony; American Philosophical Society (1968), Daniel Carl Solander, naturalist on the 'Endeavour', American Philosophical Society, retrieved 6 February 2017

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