This is the second lesson in the Unit 1 of BSc Botany Paper 3. follow my youtube video for further explanation. https://youtu.be/9mqxwcSeg4s

1. HERBARIUM
Smiling Garden of everlasting flowers
Introduction, History and significance
Dr. Sujana Papani
Taxonomic Resources

2. Road map
Introduction
Brief History
Significance of Herbarium
Kinds of Herbaria
Herbaria of the world
Important herbaria in India

3. Herbarium
Herbarium is a store house/
Collection of dried and pressed
plant specimens collected from
different places, arranged
according to some known system
of classification, to facilitate
identification, nomenclature and
preservation of the records.

4. Herbarium- Library of biological information
– Herbaria is a Library of biological information, consist of
specimens that have been collected over broad geographic
ranges and over many years.
– Multiple samples of individual species collected from
different habitats are typically preserved so that variation
among individuals can be documented, and related to
ecological and evolutionary factors

5. Herbarium- preserved biological information
– Collected individual plant specimens
are dried by taking care of all essential
parts for identification and pasted on a
well-defined sheet
– This individual sheet is also called as
Herbarium (Plural: Herbaria).

6. Herbarium- preserved biological information
The specimens may be
whole plants (herbs,
grasses) or plant parts,
which are properly dried
and pressed.

7. Herbarium- preserved biological information
– They are kept in pigeon
holes of steel or wooden
cupboards away from direct
sunlight,
– Temperature levels should
be constant between 18o C -
22oC with a humidity level
between 45-55%

8. Herbarium- preserved biological information
Some plants, which are
either succulents are
unsuitable for pressing and
drying techniques, are
preserved in specimen
bottles using suitable liquid
preservatives such as
Formaldehyde (2-5%) or
F.A.A. solution (Formalin-
Acetone-Alcohol in 5:5:90
ratio).

9. Herbarium- preserved biological information
– Gymnosperm cones and
palm fronds are stored
dry in labelled glass
boxes.
– Small specimens, such as
seeds, floral parts, bark,
roots mosses, ferns etc.
are air dried and packed
in small paper/polythene
envelopes.

10. Herbarium- preserved biological information
Thus, herbarium is depository of a great filing
system for information about plants
• Primarily in the form of actual specimens
and
• Secondarily in the form of recorded notes on
labels attached on the sheets and
photographs.
“Herbarium is a vast reservoir of plants”

11. Brief History

12. History of Herbarium
• The art of herbarium was initiated by an Italian
taxonomist from Bologna, Italy, named Luca
Ghini (1490-1556).
• He was a professor of medicine and botany at the
University of Pisa during the 16th century, also
credited for developing Pisa Botanical Garden at
Italy in 1544.
• He had collection of about 300 specimens in
1551. But unfortunately, not much is currently
known about his herbarium, may be lost.

13. History of Herbarium
• His student. Gherards Cibo, continued this art, and
his herbarium is still preserved in Rome
• In the middle years of the sixteenth century, three
Ghini students, namely Aldrovandi and Cesalpino
from Italy and Turner from England, also made their
own herbaria and disseminated this art throughout
the Europe.
• “En Tibi” was found to be first Herbarium, which
moved many countries over centuries and at present
it preserved in Netherlands.

14. Historical timeline of 16th-century Italian herbaria.
Stefanaki A, Porck H, Grimaldi IM, Thurn N, Pugliano V, et al. (2019) Breaking the silence of the 500-year-old smiling garden of
everlasting flowers: The En Tibi book herbarium. PLOS ONE 14(6): e0217779. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217779
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217779
Historical timeline of 16th-century Italian herbaria

15. History of Herbarium
In the 16th century Herbarium was called as Hortus Siccus
(dry garden) or Hortus Hiemalis (winter garden);
The word Herbarium (plural herbaria) was however, first
applied by Pitton de Tournefort, in the book “Elements de la
Botanique”.
It was the famous Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus who advised
readers of his Philosophia Botanica in 1751 to mount just one
specimen per sheet and refrain from binding the sheets together.

16. Functions

17. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium
1. A herbarium serves as an invaluable conservatory
of dried plant material, collected from different
parts of the world. Thus, at one place they provide,
basic material for study of flora and vegetation of
different places or regions
2. Since Herbarium is a permanent record of flora of
different regions, it can serve as a physical evidence
of the vegetation of a region, which may be
destroyed due to some natural catastrophes.

18. 3. The specimens in the herbarium carry valuable data on
their labels such as, habitat, habit, local names,
colour of flowers or other characters of the plant,
native uses of the plant, abundance or frequency of
the species, associated plants, etc. This data provides
valuable material for proper morphological
description, range of variation, distribution and
utilization of a similar plant collected from a different
region. Thus, a herbarium provide data for botanical,
ethno-botanical and phytogeographical studies.
Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium

19. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium
4. It serves as a source for collection of
biodiversity. Most estimates on global
biodiversity today are based on herbarium
collection only.
5. It serves as an aid in teaching botany to
students, as it helps a teacher to show a plant
specimen which may not be available fresh
during the course. It also helps students to
identify local plants collected by them.

20. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium
6. Herbaria are utilized as reference centres for identification
of plants by botanists doing research work in taxonomy,
pharmacology, ecology, agriculture etc.
7. Voucher specimens preserved in various herbaria provide an
index of specimens on which studies on chromosomes,
phytochemistry and palynology etc have been undertaken.
8. Preserved specimens of herbaria have the collection of taxa
from far and wide range involving all world species, serves
the requirement of biosystematics research.

21. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium
9.The herbaria provide important data on actual places of
occurrence, time of flowering and fruiting, associated species
and other data for researches in embryology, cytology and
ecology.
10.The herbaria have proved to be very valuable source of
information for ethno-botanical researches as many native
uses of plants are recorded on the herbarium sheets.
11.List of endangered specimens of any region can be prepared
only by verifying herbarium specimens

22. Significance/ Functions of the Herbarium
12. Monographs of genera or families are prepared by
studying the herbarium specimens.
13. The classification of world flora is flora is based on
herbarium material and associated literature.
14. Herbaria preserve the national plant wealth and provide
scientific information to the public regarding the plants.
15. Big herbaria provide training facilities to young
students in herbarium practices.

23. KINDS OF HERBARIUM
1. Botanical Survey of India: The herbaria contain all collections
from any part of the world.
2. Pharma institutions : The herbaria contain medicinal
flora utilized in drug extraction.
3. Universities and colleges : Herbarium of flora included in the
syllabus and research.
4. Agricultural Universities : The herbaria of crop plants and
weeds of cultivated fields.
Depending upon the interest of the organization or institution, the contents of
holding and the labels and notes on the sheets in a herbarium vary accordingly.

24. Important Herbarium of the world
• The first herbarium was found in the University of Padua, Italy, in 1545.
• Systematic development of herbaria started during 18th century with the
efforts of Linnaeus in Sweden and Roxburgh in India.
• According to Index Herbarium of Holmgreen et al (1981), there are about
1600 recognized herbaria in the world, excluding a large number of smaller
unrecorded herbaria of various universities, colleges, pharmacies, etc.
• Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis, USA) publishes a valuable monthly
newsletter entitled “Herbarium News” covering the different herbaria in the
world.
• The total number of herbarium specimens reported from different
institutions of the world was more than 250 million specimens.

25. Important Herbarium of the world
1. Royal Botanical Garden, Kew, England
2. Museum of Natural History, Paris, France
3. Komarov Botanical Institute, Leningrad, Russia
4. Conservatory and Botanical Garden, Geneva
5. Missouri Botanical Gardens, Saint Louis, USA
6. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, USA
7. British Museum of Natural History, London, UK
8. Gary Herbarium, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
9. Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
10. National herbarium, Netherlands
11. University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
12. University of California, Berkeley, USA
13. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India

26. Important Major Herbarium of India

27. Important Minor Herbarium of India

28. Next session:
Herbarium techniques