HERBARIUM FUND

A herbarium is a collection of plant specimens and related information preserved, cataloged, and systematically organized for scientific research.  These collections serve as a valuable resource for botanists, researchers, educators, students to study and identify plant species.  Herbarium is a "dictionary" of the world of vegetation, "herba" means grass in Latin, "herbari" means grass.  Herbaria play an crucial role in documenting diversity, understanding plant taxonomy, and tracking changes in plant populations over time.  It is crucial to identify plant species, study their geographic distribution, understand their ecological roles, compare plant traits, and establish relationships between various plant taxa.  Herbarium collections are valuable for tracking changes in plant populations, invasive species, and assessing the impact of environmental changes on plant diversity. This information is crucial for conservation efforts and the development of effective strategies to protect endangered plant species. The collected specimens are placed on a hard paper, dried under suitable conditions and temperature, the Latin taxonomic name of each plant species is recorded on the paper containing the dried herbarium, and the preserved plant specimens are stored indefinitely.  All collected samples are recorded with information showing where, when and by whom they were collected. Herbarium materials are a ready document for assessing climate change and anthropogenic impacts on vegetation, studying economically crucial plants used for medicine, food or industry. 

Herbarium fund is array of preserved plant specimens kept for scientific aims. Information obtained from herbarium specimens can help conservation efforts, morphological or molecular studies, the creation of a flora of a particular region or a monograph of a particular genus. In addition, to traditional morphology-based studies, herbarium specimens can be a source of genetic material for DNA analysis.  This is particularly useful for studying the evolution and genetic diversity of plant species. Several specimens of a plant species are sometimes collected to document the variation (phenotypic plasticity) that exists within a species (for instance, the same species may have several various leaf sizes and shapes (heterophyllous)). 

Herbariums around the world provide information that underpins scientific knowledge about the diagnostic characteristics of vegetation, the range of diversity that exists within a species, and where it occurs. In this regard, the world herbarium funds play an crucial role in protecting the scientific heritage of flora.  Herbarium collections are also an crucial, irreplaceable resource for the correct naming of unidentified vegetation and the identification of new species.