Collections
Specimens collected by Banks and Solander
from the Endeavour River, Cook's voyage 1770 Historical collections
Reference collections
The Queensland Herbarium's 700,000 plant specimens form the basis for our knowledge of the State's flora. This includes 9493 native vascular (flowering plants, conifers and ferns) and 5062 native non-vascular (mosses, liverworts, lichens, algae) plant taxa*. In addition, there are currently 1105 native macrofungi taxa* recognised for Queensland at the present time, with many more yet to be discovered and described. The collection includes 1118 naturalised taxa* and many exotic and garden species (* taxa includes species, subspecies and varieties).
Each year, about 10,000 plant specimens are added to the herbarium collection. These include new locality records, new species and new weeds. Properly maintained and conserved, the collection represents an increasingly valuable permanent record of the State's past and present flora.
The label data associated with each specimen is recorded in a database, HERBRECS, allowing for ready analysis and dissemination of the information.
Historical specimens
The collection contains many historically important specimens, including some 200 collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, the botanists who accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyage along eastern Australia in 1770. The collection also contains specimens collected in the 1800's by Dr Robert Brown, Allan Cunningham, Amelia Dietrich and others.
Reference collections
The Herbarium has two reference collections each of which consists of verified specimens of species occurring in Queensland. All plant identifications are normally confirmed by comparison with these specimens, an important part of the identification process. One reference collection is housed in the Public Reference Centre and is available for use by prior appointment.
Last updated: 11 January 2007
