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:

UNSW

CITES number:

AU029

HERBARIUM NAME:

John T. Waterhouse Herbarium

DEPARTMENT / ORGANISATION:

School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences,
University of New South Wales

CONTACT DETAILS
Street Address:

Bioscience Building
Gate 9, High St.
Kensington

Postal Address:

School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences,
University of New South Wales

City:

Sydney

State:

New South Wales

Postcode:

2052

Telephone:

(02) 9385 3274

Facsimile:

(02) 9385 1558

Email:

herbunsw@unsw.edu.au

Location:

Room 424, Biological Sciences Building

AUTHORITY/STATUS:

University

ACCESS:

By arrangement in normal working hours

ASSOCIATED LIVING COLLECTION:

-

FOUNDATION:

1960

FUNCTIONS:

teaching and research collection

GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE:

Australia, mainly NSW and northern Australia

TAXONOMIC SCOPE:

larger fungi and green plants, mostly vascular

NUMBER OF SPECIMENS:

Total

Types

Angiosperms

30,200

-

Dicots

24,000

-

Monocots

6,200

-

Gymnosperms

3,250

-

Pteridophytes

3,100

-

Mosses

300

-

Liverworts

300

-

Lichens

1000

-

Fungi

11,000

-

Algae

4000

-

Fossils

The Herbarium holds no plant fossils, but the School has c. 200

-

Wood Samples

c. 150 (mostly Mytaceae)

-

Accessioned

-

-

Unaccessioned

-

-

The herbarium has a policy of not keeping types, but has c. 10 isotypes in Angiosperm collection, mostly from studies by students in the school.

57 holotypes in fungal collection, though these will be lodged in a larger herbarium, when a suitable one is found.

Status:

Backlog of older specimens being databased as funds are made available. All post-2005 vascular plant collections databased.

Database Name:

WATERHOUSIA

Database Description:

MS Access

Number of Specimen Records:

6,380

Access:

Database access currently limited to Herbarium staff and volunteers. We are currently investigating options for provision of online access.

Email and Internet:

-

Significant Historical Collections:

H.N. Barber - collection being transferred to main collection

Significant Special Collections:

J. T. Waterhouse (Magela Creek Collection)
A. E. Wood (larger fungal collection)

Ancillary Collections:

Smith's Lake field reference collection
Fowlers Gap field reference collection

Photographic Collections:

-

Botanical Library:

Small taxonomic library

Director:

Paul Adam

Curator:

Frank Hemmings (part time)

Manager:

-

Chief Botanist:

-

Taxonomists:

-

Ecologists/Evolutionary Biologists:

Stephen Bonser, Angela Moles

Technical Officers:

Ray Blick (Research Assistant)

Volunteers:

Randy Olsen

Associates:

A. E. Wood (Hon. Visitor, Fungal Taxonomy)
B. Rees (Hon. Visitor, Fungal Taxonomy)

Taxonomic:

Systematics of Agaricales, esp. Amanitaceae, Cortinariaceae

Non-Taxonomic:

Global patterns of plant form and function; rapid evolution in introduced species; growth form and allocation changes over time.

Relating to the Collection:

-

Relating to the Herbarium:

-

Notes:

-