Open Herbarium

This university has students conducting surveys for individual species. This site it designed to share the data resulting from such surveys. It is currently experimental

The Central Herbarium University of Wah was established in March 2020 to expand Pakistan’s Plant biodiversity knowledge, scientific excellence, and innovation in plant systematics, conservation, and evolutionary biology and to enhance knowledge, understanding, conservation and, sustainable utilization of Pakistan’s plant biodiversity. The herbarium now includes approximately 900 plant specimens. Visitors include scientists, students, and teachers from universities, colleges, and schools.

The Department of Botany is one of the oldest departments in the University, being established in 1912. Prof. Shiv Ram Kashyap, who was the department head from 1912 to 1934, established a museum and herbarium. The herbarium’s holdings included plants from many regions, including China, Indonesia and Philippines, and its collection of liverworts and mosses was considered the largest in the subcontinent at that time. The collection grew to include several hundred specimens of algae, fungi, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms but, when the University of the Punjab was established as a separate institution, most of the specimens were transferred there. The present museum and herbarium are named the Prof. Kashyap Museum and Dr. Sultan Ahmed Herbarium. Both are being actively developed. The Department also has a botanic garden, Botanic Garden GCU, which was founded in 1912 and extends over 7 acres. It has long been recognized for the diversity of its holdings. It is home to Pakistan’s Botanic Gardens Network Secretariat.

Abbottabad is an important gateway to northern Pakistan and three mountain ranges, the Himalaya, Hindukush, and Karakuram. It is famous for its scenic beauty, moderate climate and educational institutions. The Herbarium of Government College Abbottabad was established by the Department of Botany in 1990. At that time, it was the only herbarium in the region. By 2005, the collection had grown to 10,000 specimens, but in October of that year, the area experienced devastating earthquake. The earthquake left many people dead or homeless and damaged much of the area’s infrastructure, including the herbarium. Fortunately, all involved decided that re-establishing and continuing to develop the area’s oldest and only herbarium was important. Consequently, space was set aside for the herbarium in the new BS building funded by the Saudi Government and the staff and students reorganized the surviving specimens in the new facility and began adding to them. By 2022, the collection had grown to 15,000 specimens and the decision was made to register it with Index herbariorum and to start sharing its holdings with the world via OpenHerbarium.

PGMUZM was established to support the educational and research needs of the college. It houses specimens documenting the floral diversity of AJK and adjacent areas. The herbarium was established in 2015 and is still active. The current focus is on on that vascular and non- vascular plants, fungi and Algae growing in the of state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and its adjacent areas. Specimens collected from other parts of the country (Pakistan) are also welcomed. The specimens are collected by students in the college's botany program, research scholars and other explorers.

Hazara University is located on the crossroads of the ancient civilization of Gandhara and Ashoka and is on one of the Silk Routes connecting the Indian sub-continent with China and Central Asia. The University was founded in 2001 and has had a strong floristic program since that time. Today, its herbarium includes about 18,000 species and includes all plant groups other than algae. Its digitization program started in 2021.

The herbarium of Islamia College Peshawar is one of the oldest in Pakistan. It houses about 15,000 specimens of angiosperms, gymnosperms, pteridophytes, bryophytes, and algae. It is used for both teaching and research.

This collection has been created to enable data storage and label printing before deposition in a herbarium

Plants are essential to sustaining the stability and quality of human life on this planet. At the Missouri Botanical Garden, we have dedicated ourselves to helping conserve biological diversity while there is still something left to protect. Our research provides scientific information essential to decision makers, from conservation and land use to social and environmental policy. We have taken the lead in making information widely accessible via the Internet, maintaining the world's largest botanical database and the premier botanical website, TROPICOS. Garden scientists conduct the most productive and geographically widespread botanical research program in the world.

The National Herbarium of Pakistan has its origins in R.R. Stewart’s extensive plant collections made between 1912 and 1959. In 1960, Stewart gave his specimens to Eugene Nasir of Gordon College, Rawalpindi, who added more specimens to it. In 1974, the College transferred the expanded collection to the National Agricultural Center, Islamabad, where it became the National Herbarium with E. Nasir as its Director. Today, the National Herbarium has over 100,000 specimens. Most specimens are from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. In 1970, Nasir and S.I. Ali (Karachi University) began work on the Flora of Pakistan. It was completed in 2021 and treats over 6000 species. The importance of the National Herbarium to the Flora is evident in the number of its specimens cited. Conserving Pakistan’s rich plant heritage is crucial to development of novel drugs and new crops because plants sustain all other forms of life and are a major source of novel therapeutic compounds. The Flora of Pakistan is critical to conservation of plant heritage. Increasing awareness of the importance of this heritage is also important. Drs. Yasin Nasir and Rubina Akhtar contributed to this goal by publishing attractively illustrated works, such as Wildflowers of Pakistan, designed for a general audience. More recently, the National Herbarium established a Botanical Conservatory for native and exotic species of economic importance. It has sections dedicated to hydrophytes, herbs, cacti/succulents, climbers, shrubs and trees and includes about 250 native plant species collected from different regions of country. The conservatory is both attractive and a valuable tool for research and education. Thus Pakistan’s National Herbarium continues to be an important resource for plant identification, research, development of conservation strategies, and increasing awareness of Pakistan’s flora. Making its records available online reflects continued commitment to these goals.

The National Herbarium of Nepal is part of the Ministry of Forests and Environment. It was founded in 1960 and currently holds about 165000 speimens

The P.N. Krylov herbarium of Tomsk State University was founded in 1885. It now holds about 500,000 specimens of bryophytes, lichens, pteridophytes, and seed plants.

The herbarium of PCSIR-Peshawar exists to meet the needs of researchers, students working with plants from various localities of Pakistan. It was established in 1956 and now holds over 10,000 specimens.

Bannu is located in Waziristan. It is a mountainous region comprising two districts, North Waziristan and South Waziristan that are now included in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. There are no checklists for the region, let alone a flora. It is also poorly represented in the world's herbaria, including those of Pakistan. BANNU was established in 1960 but has only recently (2017) been given the support required to make significant progress in documenting and summarizing Waziristan's florist diversity and its use by local people.

Qarshi Industries (Pvt.) Ltd. is one of the largest natural products manufacturers in Pakistan. It is a modern and progressive facility that manufactures and markets leading brands which have become household names. Qarshi is engaged in promoting healthy living since five decades. It offers a blend of age-old Oriental and Greek herbal preparations. The botanical garden was established to aid in identification and to help conserve native populations.

ISL was established in 1974. It is now the largest herbarium in Pakistan having over 180,000 specimens, collected from throughout Pakistan. The oldest specimens were collected over 50 years ago. The herbarium supports and promotes research on a wide range of environmental and biodiversity issues. Its holdings include many important endangered, rare and vulnerable plant species. Currently, the herbarium is being used by projects in taxonomy, molecular systematics, revisions, palynology, diversity of wild vegetables and edible fruits, biofuels, medicinal uses and the flora of different ecosystems within Pakistan. The herbarium’s holdings be consulted by anyone interested. Visitors routinely include foreigners, scientists, herbalists, naturalists, students and teachers from universities, colleges and schools. In 2018, Drs. Mushtaq Ahmad and Muhammad Zafar, assisted by their post-graduate students and funding from the Bioidiversity Information Fund for Asia (BIFA03-47), began digitizing and georeferencing the herbarium’s specimens. A second BIFA grant (BIFA04-046), enabled continuation of that effort so that now (2020-Oct-20) there are 36,208 ISL records accessible via OpenHerbarium and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, of which 24,368 have been georeferenced. Individuals needing to view information for endangered, rare and vulnerable species should contact Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad for permission.

The Rawalpindi Women University Herbarium was formed in 2021. Its focus will be on the algae, fungi, and plants of Pakistan, with an emphasis on those from the junction of the northern mountains with the southern plains.

The food market located immediately to the south of the Hazara Graveyard on the east side of Mari Abad, an eastern suburb of Quetta. There are several vendors in the area.

Is a store on Fourth North in Logan.

The herbarium, which was established in 2019, is focused on the flora of Azad Kashmir and northern Pakistan. This floristically rich region encompasses subtropical, temperate, and alpine floras.

The herbarium houses vascular plants, algae, fungi, and bryopytes. It has about 1000 specimens.

Sources for seeds of Somaliland's native plants are hard to locate, particularly seeds of species not considered "important". The Somaliland Biodiversity Foundation is promoting the establishment of native species on campus but, to make this possible, it is first necessary to develop a seed source. Seeds in this collection will be imaged the primary purpose in collecting them is to help increase the number and proportion of native species on campus and to encourage research on their germination, growth, and establishment. The Foundation's ultimate goal in establishing the seed collecting is to promote an increase in Somaliland's plant cover, primarily by species native to Somaliland or its immediate neighbors. Such an increase will promote Somaliland's ability to resist the effects of climate change. Many, but not all, of the seeds are documented by voucher specimens in HARG.

The herbarium is in the process of being established(2022). It currently holds about 400 specimens, of algae, bryophytes, fungi (including lichens) and seed plants. 33.48423883547389, 73.90155592833739

The University of Malakand Botanic Garden and Herbarium is focused on 1) conservation of the local flora both in- and ex-situ; 2) development of a herbarium emphasizing local species; 3) monographic study of local species, particularly those of high value medicinal plants; 4) DNA/Protein genotyping with an emphasis on local species; 5) tissue culture of rare local species to support their conservation and multiplication. The herbarium currently has about 2000 dry specimens from different localities in the Malakand division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. More than 60% of the plants are endemic to Malakand division and acclimated to the environmental conditions of the botanic garden.

The University of Okara Herbarium was established in 2021.

The University of Peshawar was found in 1950 and its herbarium two years later. It is adjacent to Islamia College, founded in 1913. The Department of Botany has an active program in plant systematics and conservation.

POONCH, the herbarium of the University of Poonch Rawalakot was founded in 2016. Its focus will be the plants, fungi, and algae of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It is being developed to meet the needs of area professionals and amateurs in many walks of life. At present, it has a rich collection of medicinally and economically important plants of the Himalaya.

The University of Sargodha herbarium was founded in 2015. Its focus is the Sargodha Division of Punjab Province, Pakistan. It includes four districts: Sargodha, Khushab, Bhakkar, and Mianwali. It is one of the fastest growing areas in Pakistan. The area has very hot (50C) in the summer but can drop to freezing in the winter.

The herbarium of the University of Sindh Jamshoro is one of two key components of the Institute of Plant Sciences, the other being establishment of a botanic garden. The herbarium was initiated in the 1950s, primarily as a teaching resource. In 2018, with support from the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, it is being transformed into a research herbarium. A key part of this transformation has been identifying its primary goals as 1) documentation of the flora of Sindh and adjacent regions of Balochistan; 2) providing instruction in the importance and preparation of voucher specimens in botanical research; and sharing of what is learned with diverse audiences through multiple outlets. In December 2018, the herbarium began sharing its data via OpenHerbarium, a Symbiota network, and, early in 2019, via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. In 2018, the collection included about 15,000 specimens, essentially all of which are of vascular plants.

The Swat University Herbarium was started in 2015, 5 years after foundation of the university. The Herbarium is located at the main campus of the University at Charbagh Swat. Swat lies at the junction of three major mountain ranges: Himalayas, Hindukush, and Karakorum. It is home to an enormously diverse flora, one that contains Central Asian, European, and Himalayan elements. The focus of the SWAT Herbarium is flora of the Hindukush-Himalayas, Karakorum and northern Pakistan. A high proportion of its taxa are endemic, or nearly endemic, to the region and many of its species are rare. There are also many taxa that are highly valued as medicinal plants. The fungal flora is less well known but it can be expected to have comparable diversity. The Centre for Plant Sciences and Biodiversity is home to experts in several plant groups and macrofungi as well.

The herbarium was initiated in 2022. Its initial focus will be on the plants of Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjacent areas.

The Flora of Pakistan is a multi-volume work, started in 1971 at the University of Karachi and now nearing completion with Drs. S.I. Ali and M. Qaiser as lead editors and, since 2000, help from the Missouri Botanical Garden. Each treatment includes specimen citations. The records in this "collection" come from these citations. Each record is georeferenced but only to center of the 2 degree grid given for that record. The uncertainty is 293,295 m so the maps only provide a very coarse grained distribution. Anyone interested in refining the georeference information should contact Dr. Mary Barkworth, Utah State University, who is overseeing the incorporation of these invaluable records into this web site.

In 2012, Prof. Dietrich Podlech compiled a Checklist of the Flowering plants of Afghanistan and made it available online. It listed, for each species, the districts of Afghanistan where it was known to grow. The data in CoAF were obtained by extracting the distributional information from that checklist. Contact information is for Mary Barkworth who apologizes for any errors in the presentation. For questions about the checklist, contact Prof. Podlech (podlech symbol lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

The Biodiversity Museum of the University of Hargeisa has established a small area in front of the museum for growing succulent plants, thereby facilitating research on their growth, phenology, and biology. Documentation of their growth will occur through imaging, presented on this site, and a spreadsheet.

The Flora of Somalia is a 4 volume work published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The first volume was published in 1993, the last in 2006. It is a multi-authored work contains detailed descriptions, distributional information, identification keys, numerous illustrations, and considerable additional information for each taxon. The distributional information is given in terms of regions. This site offers a view of the distributional information in the flora.

Distribution records from volume 7 (grasses) and part of volume 6 (other monocots) from the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Enabling access to the distribution data from the two volumes is designed to illustrate the value of this method of sharing information. Contact information is for data on this web site.

Founded in 1902 in Amani, Tanzania, the East African Herbarium (EA) maintains the largest botanical collection in tropical Africa. It now holds over 1,000,000 plant and fungal specimens. Collections of roots, rhizomes, woods, fruits and seeds too large for standard herbarium sheets are also maintained. EA is a major regional as well as national botanical reference centre. Research focuses primarily on the taxonomy, distribution, use and conservation of East African plants. Investigations have generally been project based, the Indigenous Food Plants Programme and the Coastal Forest Survey being examples. Field surveys have contributed to the Flora of Tropical East Africa (FTEA) and more specialized floras such as those for Kakamega Forest, Coastal forests, Afro- Alpine ecosystems, and moist and dryland hilltops as well as to publications in peer reviewed journals. Digitization of EA collections is ongoing. Type specimens (>4500), endemics (>1100), rare and CITES listed species have already been digitized. Information for them is already online. The major library collection housed in the herbarium is an indispensable research source and the Herbarium's plant identification service is extensively used by local and international researchers as well as by interested members of the public. In 1992, plant Ex Situ and In Situ Conservation programmes were established for the express purpose of ensuring the survival and proliferation of threatened flora. Activities include collection and maintenance of seed accessions for long term storage and propagation. Some of the rare plants, especially succulents and orchids, are preserved at the Nairobi Botanic Garden. The EA herbarium offers training courses in plant conservation, herbarium techniques, and bioinformatics. In addition, over 1500 biology students from universities visit the herbarium for plant taxonomy and conservation talks. Collaboration with other local and international research/academic institutions is welcome.

The collection is focused on vascular plants of Iraq and surrounding regions.

The Flora of Iraq started in 1960 as a project of the National Herbarium, Ministry of Agriculture, Baghdad in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. The records presented here are from the specimen citations in the published volumes of the Flora.

Records in this collection are of specimens on loan to UTC for study by Barkworth.

The records here are a tiny subset of the 7 million specimens at Kew. They have been entered to expand information available through OpenHerbarium for Africa and southwest Asia.

ecords in this database are of the vascular plants in the Intermountain Herbarium. Records for fungi, lichens and bryophytes are now being posted to the taxon-specific networks. The geographic focus of the Intermountain Herbarium is the Intermountain Region of western North America but its holdings come from many different countries. It even has one or more specimens from each of the seven continents. The collection is particularly rich in the Scrophulariaceae (traditional sense) and grasses, including voucher specimens of plants used by by the late D.R. Dewey in his cytogenetic studies of the Triticeae.

This collection is for adding specimen records of important specimens, such as types, located in herbaria that are not contributors to OpenHerbarium. If found on the web, a link will be provided to the primary record.

Records in this collection have been downloaded from SEINet,a US Symbiota herbarium network which is accessible via multiple portals (e.g., ,Intermountainbiota.org. Most records currently in the network are of specimens collected in the US. Records added, and the dates they were added, are Northeastern Africa, Grasses, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Russia [all added July 1-4, 2020].

Records in EA temp are from Kimeu's database of Aristida for Somalia. He has kindly provided them for demonstration purposes. Kimeu is a curator at EA, the national herbarium of Africa.

The records in this collection come from Dr. Maria Vorontsova who kindly made them available to help demonstrate the potential of the site. They are essentially her research notes. The specimens themselves are in the herbaria listed under "OtherCataloNumbers"

Just to try things out during this workshop

This exists solely to generate labels. The records will be deleted.

This is a collection of image-based observations submitted by general users of this portal.