Resources of Australian Herbaria

Compiled by K.J.Cowley & J.G.West on behalf of the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH)

HERBARIUM CODE:

MEL

CITES number:

AU026

HERBARIUM NAME:

National Herbarium of Victoria

DEPARTMENT / ORGANISATION:

Royal Botanic Gardens

CONTACT DETAILS
Street Address:

Royal Botanic Gardens, Birdwood Avenue

Postal Address:

Private Bag 2000
Birdwood Avenue
South Yarra

City:

Melbourne

State:

Victoria

Postcode:

3141

Telephone:

(03) 9252 2300

Facsimile:

(03) 9252 2442

Email:

first name.followed by last name@rbg.vic.gov.au

Location:

Corner of Birdwood Avenue and Dallas Brooks Drive (off Domain Rd) c. 2.5kms SE of Central Business District.

AUTHORITY/STATUS:

The Royal Botanic Gardens Board is a Statuary Authority subject to the general direction and control of the Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

ACCESS:

The Herbarium is not open to the public and access for researchers is by prior appointment only (usually 9.30 am to 4.30 pm on weekdays only).
Victorian Reference Set and Plant Identification Service: Weekdays 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.

ASSOCIATED LIVING COLLECTION:

Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne; Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne.

FOUNDATION:

Dr F.J.H. Mueller was appointed by Charles La Trobe as Victoria’s first Government Botanist on 26 January 1853, the Botanic Gardens having been founded in 1846.The present building was built in 1934 with funds provided by Sir Macpherson Robertson to mark the Centenary of Victoria. An extension was added in 1988 with Bicentenary funding.

FUNCTIONS:

The National Herbarium of Victoria provides a focus for plant taxonomy and systematics in Victoria and provides a rich resource for botanical information. The collection supports the work of staff at the Royal Botanic Gardens, researchers and students at tertiary institutions, and researchers nationally and internationally. The collection contains vouchers authenticating the nomenclature of many of the living collections in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne and Cranbourne.

GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE:

60% of the collection is Australian; 40% is non-Australian.

TAXONOMIC SCOPE:

All major plant groups and fungi and algae are represented.

NUMBER OF SPECIMENS:

Total

Types

Angiosperms

924,437

32,243

Dicots

723,942

27,015

Monocots

200,495

5,228

Gymnosperms

6,285

88

Pteridophytes

38,997

970

Mosses

69,873

642

Liverworts

6,629

171

Lichens

44,815

541

Fungi

42,509

546

Algae

46,050

2,236

Fossils

-

-

Wood Samples

500

-

Accessioned

-

-

Unaccessioned

71,926

-

Total specimens

1,252,021

NUMBER OF TYPES

37,437

Status:

Australian plants, fungi and most algae are databased, ongoing databasing of new accessions and non-Australian collections.

Database Name:

MELISR

Database Description:

KE Texpress 6.2 running on Suse Linux Enterprise 9.

Number of Specimen Records:

803,000

Access:

Presently restricted to Staff. Specimen data is available on request and a charge may be applicable.

Email and Internet:

firstname.surname@rbg.vic.gov.au
Limited specimen information available through AVH.

Significant Historical Collections:

D.J. Anderson, T. Anderson, W.E. Armit, J. Banks & D. Solander, R.A. Bastow, R.A. Black, W. Bauerlen, T.W.N. Beckett, H. Beckler, O.C. Berg, J.S. Blanchett, R. Brown, J. Chalmers, M. Coch, H. Cuming, J. Dallachy, A. Dietrich, J. Drummond, J.L. Dufour, C.F. Ecklon, H.O. Forbes, E. Giles, C. Gay, A.F.M. Glaziou, H.P. Guppy, H.F. Hance, W.H. Harvey, A. Henry, T. Horsfield, W.R. Hostmann, F.W. Junghuhn, J. Kirk, J.G.C. Lehmann, F.W.L. Leichhardt, L. Lepine, F. Leybold, F. Lindheimer, S. MacFarlane, E.A. Maire, C.F. P. von Martius, G. Maxwell, K. Moritz, A. Morrison, F.J.H. Mueller, A.F. Oldfield, J. Orknie, J. Pancher, J.A.L. Preiss, C.G. Pringle, T.S. Ralph, F.M. Reader, J. Reedy, J.F. Roberts, F. Roemer, G.W. Schimper, G. Schweinfurth, B. Seemann, F. Sellow, F.W. Sieber, O.W. Sonder, J. Steetz, C. Stuart, A. J. Tadgell, J.E.Teijsmann, J.H.K., Thwaites, N.A. Wakefield, F.M.J. Welwitsch, S.J.Whitmee, J.J.Widgren, R. Wight, H.B. Williamson, J.H. Willis, F.R.M Wilson, J.B. Wilson, C.L.P. Zeyher, H. Zollinger.

Significant Special Collections:

W. Hillebrand (Hawaii), Sonder herbarium, J. Steetz herbarium, A.C. Beauglehole, M. & J. Simmons, I.G. Stone, W.Woelkerling.

Ancillary Collections:

Spirit Collection of 9,450 jars.

Photographic Collections:

Not catalogued. Includes colour transparencies and cibachromes of type material housed at K.

Botanical Library:

Access by appointment. Worldwide coverage in areas of Australian Taxonomy, Botanical History and Horticulture. Houses about 70,000 volumes.

Director and Chief Executive:

Philip Moors

Chief Botanist and Director, Plant Sciences & Biodiversity:

David Cantrill (Southern Hemisphere flora)

Collections Manager:

Pina Milne (Bryology; rainforest and soil crust mosses)

Plant Sciences Manager:

Frank Udovicic (Molecular Systematics, Myrtaceae, Rhamnaceae)

Library Manager:

Helen Cohn (History of botanical research in Australia)

Taxonomists/Systematists:

David Cantrill (Southern Hemisphere flora), Jeff Jeanes (orchids), Teresa Lebel (sequestrate fungi), Tom May (fungi), Pina Milne (bryology), Dan Murphy (Molecular systematics, Acacia), John Reid (botanical identification and information), Val Stajsic (botanical information), Frank Udovicic (Molecular systematics, Myrtaceae, Rhamnaceae), Neville Walsh (Flora of Victoria, Victorian census, Victorian rare and threatened species, Asteraceae, Poaceae, Rhamnaceae)

Ecology / Conservation Genetics:

Liz James (temperate grasslands, Grevillea wetlands)

Horticulture:

Rob Cross (micropropagation, plant selection, sustainability), Roger Spencer (horticultural plants in South-Eastern Australia; nomenclature for cultivated plants, sustainability)

Conservation Biology:

Jeff Jeanes (Victorian Conservation Seedbank), Tom May (rare and threatened fungi), Neville Walsh (Flora of Victoria, Victorian census, Victorian rare and threatened species)

Technical Officers:

Helen Barnes (Curation, Herbarium), Catherine Gallagher (Collections Co-ordinator), Wayne Gebert (Curation, Herbarium), Megan Hirst (Victorian Conservation Seedbank), Nimal Karunajeewa (Database Officer, Foreign Fabaceae Project), Helen Rommelaar (Curation, Herbarium), Judy Ryan (Volunteers Co-ordinator), Jill Thurlow (Library), Alison Vaughan (Collections Information Officer)

IT Staff:

David Cash (Plant Records Officer), Sabine Glissmann-Gough (IT Manager), Ed Jarrett (IT Project Officer), Geraldine Jones (Coordinator IT Operations), Niels Klazenga (Programmer), Upul Molligoda (IT Support Officer), Dennis Renfrey (Document Management Coordinator), Sam Vukanovic (Digital Media Officer), Frank Xu (Programmer)

Volunteers:

Currently 70

Associates:

Peter Adams (Dendrobium), Barbara Archer (flora of Esperance area, Western Australia), Helen Aston (aquatic angiosperms), Margaret Corrick (Fabaceae, vascular plants of Western Australia), Tom Darragh (History - Mueller project), Andrew Drinnan (floral development, fossil floras), Rod Home (History - Mueller Project), Jeff Jeanes (Orchids), Sheryl Lawson (Dendrobium), Sara Maroske (History - Mueller Project), Neville Scarlett (Lepidium, Taraxacum), Jim Ross (Fabaceae), Kevin Rule (Eucalyptus), Katrina Syme (Mycological art, Fungimap), Monika Wells (History - Mueller Project), Bill Woelkerling (coralline red algae), Ian Clarke (plant handbooks)

Taxonomic:

As indicated above

Non-Taxonomic:

Conservation of rare and threatened vascular plants in Victoria

Ex-situ conservation of terrestrial orchids

Fungimap

Mycophagy

Ecology of forest macrofungi

Greenlife Database TM

Micropropagation of Proteaceae and tropical rainforest taxa

Director:

Mark McDonnell

Honorary Associate Staff:

Mick McCarthy (environmental management decisions and uncertainty), Nick Williams (plant ecology and biodiversity management), Kirsten Parris (urban ecology, amphibian ecology and bioacoustics), John Morgan (plant ecology and native plant disturbance)

Relating to the Collection:

A Census of the Vascular Plants of Victoria.

Collecting and Preserving Herbarium Specimens.

Flora of Victoria.

Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia.

Muelleria.

Relating to the Herbarium:

Collecting and Preserving Herbarium Specimens

Notes:

Maintain nomenclatural databases for vascular plants of Victoria and fungi of Australia.