Herbarium and Library

What is a herbarium?

A herbarium is a collection of dried plant specimens mounted on sheets of paper along with associated important field data (family name, genus, collector name, collection date, plant description, location and comments (if any). The specimen may be a whole plant or plant parts. The specimens are filed alphabetically according to family name making it easier for non-specialist users to find taxa.

The herbarium in Johannesburg Botanical Garden (JBG) currently houses more than 10000 plant specimens and is used by JCPZ employees and the broader community (i.e. residents; students and researchers) for plant identification, educational and research purposes. About 70% of the specimens in the JBG herbarium represent the vegetation of City of Johannesburg and the oldest specimen was collected in 1901. The collection of specimens is ongoing.

 

 

 

Functions of the Herbarium

A herbarium has one or more of the following functions or roles:

• Source of knowledge about the flora of a region
• Help in the identification of plants.
• Preserve historical records of change in vegetation over time and provide material for botanic research.

Next to the herbarium, the seed room houses seed collection used for conservation, educational and research purposes.

 

Tour of the Herbarium


Plant Collection and Preservation

 

The Johannesburg Botanical Garden Library

The JBG herbarium is attached to a library which currently houses more than 2 000 resources mainly on the following subjects: taxonomy, biodiversity, morphology, plant anatomy, plant geography, history, environment, zoology, ethnobotany and landscaping. The library, herbarium and botanical garden which provides a living collection of plants, together are an indispensable resource for botanic research.