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:

CANB

CITES number:

AU011

HERBARIUM NAME:

Australian National Herbarium

DEPARTMENT / ORGANISATION:

Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research- a collaborative organisation between CSIRO Plant Industry and Australian National Botanic Gardens (Dept of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts [DEWHA])

CONTACT DETAILS
Street Address:

CSIRO Plant Industry
Clunies Ross Street
Black Mountain

Postal Address:

GPO Box 1600

City:

Canberra

State:

ACT

Postcode:

2601

Telephone:

(02) 6246 5108

Facsimile:

(02) 6246 5249

Email:

firstname.lastname@csiro.au

Telephone: (ANBG Site)

(02) 6250 9450

Facsimile: (ANBG Site)

(02) 6250 9599

Email: (ANBG Site)

firstname.lastname@environment.gov.au

Location:

Flowering plant collection in the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research in the CSIRO Plant Industry complex on Black Mountain, cnr Barry Drive and Clunies Ross Street with vehicle access off Clunies Ross Street

Cryptogam, fern and gymnosperm collection in the Botany Building at the Australian National Botanic Gardens on Black Mountain, cnr of Clunies Ross Street and Black Mountain Drive with access off Clunies Ross Street

Public Access collection at the Botanical Resource Centre at the Australian National Botanic Gardens on Black Mountain, cnr of Clunies Ross Street and Black Mountain Drive with access off Clunies Ross Street

Tropical rainforest collection in the Australian Tropical Herbarium (CNS) entry.

AUTHORITY/STATUS:

Commonwealth collections. Statutory Authority responsible to the Federal Minister for Science and the Minister for the Environment.

ACCESS:

Collections accessible to researchers by pryor appointment.
Public Access collection 9am - 4pm daily, including weekends

ASSOCIATED LIVING COLLECTION:

Australian National Botanic Gardens, Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT,
Booderee Botanic Garden, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay, ACT

FOUNDATION:

CANB represents the collections of CSIRO Land & Water, CSIRO Forestry (FRI), CSIRO Plant Industry and CBG. The CSIRO collections have been co-located and integrated for some years. The amalgamation with the ANBG collection (formerly CBG) took place in 1994 following an Agreement between CSIRO, Division of Plant Industry, and ANCA (now DEWHA), in November 1993 to form the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research with the combined herbarium forming part of the Centre’s activities.

The CSIRO Atherton Herbarium is part of the Australian Tropical Herbarium - see CNS entry.

FUNCTIONS:

The Australian National Herbarium (CANB) provides a national focus for plant taxonomic and systematic endeavour and serves as the Commonwealth's prime resource for botanical information. Systematic research focuses on understanding the evolution, phylogeny and biogeography of key Australian plant groups. Its collections support and authenticate the taxonomy of genetic and ecological work undertaken by the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research and botanical programs of the CSIRO as well as authenticating the living and image collections and the horticultural research programs of the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE:

c. 80% of the collection is Australian; c. 20% of the collection is non-Australian, particularly Papua New Guinea.

All major plant groups, lichens, fungi algae are represented.

NUMBER OF SPECIMENS:

Total

Type *

Angiosperms

Dicots

Monocots

Gymnosperms

Pteridophytes

Mosses

Liverworts

Lichens

Fungi

Algae

Fossils

Wood Samples

Accessioned

Unaccessioned

* These figures relate to those types already identified from the collection; there is certainly more within the main collection. The type collection is held separately from the main collection.

Status:

On going with new accessions and foreign specimens as all of the incorporated Australian vascular collection is databased.

Database Name:

ANHSIR incorporating links to APNI

Database Description:

ORACLE, [RDBMS],

Number of Specimen Records:

850,000 (76%)

Access:

Free on request (charge for large or commercial use)

Email and Internet:

firstname.lastname@environment.gov.au

firstname.lastname@csiro.au

http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/

Significant Historical Collections:

Joseph Banks & Daniel Solander, Robert Brown (c. 1200 specimens)

Significant Special Collections:

Eucalyptus, Orchidaceae, tropical rainforest taxa, Australia and Papua New Guinea, lichens, mosses

Ancillary Collections:

Spirit Collection, comprising 29,000 accessions, c. 15,000-20,000 Orchidacea, 3,800 eucalypts, c. 5,700 other taxa

Photographic Collections:

Australian National Botanic Garden collection, 42,000 plant portraits and whole plant profiles, 35mm slides and born-digital fully databased, only c.50% of slides digitized.

Botanical Library:

Subset of CSIRO, Black Mountain Library. Access during normal work hours by appointment; worldwide coverage in areas of Australian taxonomy, botanical history.

Library of Australian National Botanic Gardens; access during normal working hours by appointment; orchids, cryptogams, horticulture of Australian plants.

Director:

vacant

Curator:

Brendan Lepschi

Collections Manager:

Jo Palmer

Chief Botanist:

-

Taxonomists:

Christine Cargill (hornworts, liverworts), Mark Clements (Orchidaceae), Brendan Lepschi (Santalaceae), Joe Miller (Acacia, Mimosoideae), Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn (Asteracea, Lamiaceae), Judy West (Portulacaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Sapindaceae, Pultenaea)

Ecologists/Evolutionary Biologists:

Technical Officers:

Serkan Alasya (Loans and Exchange officer); Kirsten Cowley (Portulacaceae and Caryophyllaceae research support, APNI and APC support); Bronwyn Collins (Student Botanical Internship Program, APNI and APC); Judith Curnow (Cryptogam collection support); Terena Lally (Kennedia, Ptilotus); David Mallinson (curation/collection support); Cathy Miller (molecular systematics); Maggie Nightingale (Poaceae); Anna Monro (APNI and APC); Jo Palmer (Amaranthaceae); Ish Sharma (molecular systematics, lab manager); Andrew Slee (Eucalyptus research support, curation)

IT Staff:

Jim Croft, Murray Fagg, John Hook, Greg Whitbread, Data-entry staff: Maggie Nightingale, Cheryl Backhouse, Carmen Evans.

Volunteers:

Currently c. 50

Associates:

Laurie Adams (Gentianaceae), Isobel Crawford (local floristics), Mike Crisp (Fabaceae), Jack Elix (lichens), Richard Groves (environmental weeds); Tom Hartley (Rutaceae), Mike Lazarides (Poaceae), Heino Lepp (fungi), Rosemary Purdie (community ecology), Lyn Craven (Myrtaceae, Boraginaceae, Malvaceae).

Taxonomic:

Indicated above

Non-Taxonomic:

In associated CSIRO programs:

Conservation genetics (rare species/small populations)

Environmental weeds - biology & control

Evolutionary dynamics & biodiversity of host-microbe systems

Genetic resources of native species (Gossypium, Glycine)

Molecular markers for useful genes

Habitat fragmentation - genetics and demographics

Conservation of biodiversity within the agricultural landscape

Rare and threatened plants conservation biology

Coevolution of the flora with insects

Relating to the Collection:

"CSIRO Australian Biological Collection" published by the CSIRO Collections Group

Relating to the Herbarium:

Resources of Australian Herbaria collated and updated as a website on behalf of The Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH)

Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, published as a regularly updated website on behalf of The Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH)

Notes: