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New Zealand National Herbarium Network |
About the Network |
| Since 1982, New Zealand's herbarium curators have meet on
an annual basis to report on activities, to discuss herbarium practise and
matters of mutual concern, to formulate national policies, and to foster
cooperation and training opportunities.
In 1989 the New Zealand National Herbarium Network was formed based on the concept of the Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH). There are currently 17 Network members, 13 of which are registered in Index Herbariorum. The Network meets annually (next meeting: PDD, 23 November 2006). The Network promotes the definition of the "National Herbarium" of New Zealand as being the aggregate holdings of all the herbaria in the Network. Over 1 325 000 plant and fungal specimens are now hold in New Zealand herbaria.
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History of Herbaria in New ZealandThe oldest known specimens from New Zealand are those collected by Banks & Solander on Cook's first voyage in 1769-1770. These are housed at the Natural History Museum (BM) in London, with duplicates at AK, CHR and WELT. Public herbaria have existed in New Zealand since the foundation of the country's first museums in the 1850s and 1860s. Herbaria were established at the Colonial Museum (now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa) in 1865, Canterbury Museum in 1867, Otago Museum c. 1870, and Auckland Museum in 1870. Only those at the Museum of New Zealand and Auckland Museum are still maintained in their original institutions. The growth of the Government's major research organisation, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, led to the establishment in 1928 of CHR, which has developed into the country's largest herbarium; and the foundation in 1936 of PDD, the specialist national fungal herbarium. The seven university herbaria, established principally as teaching collections, are generally of more recent origin, mostly dating from after the Second World War. In addition, the post-war era saw the development of government-funded specialist herbaria at the Forest Reseach Institute in Rotorua, and the Minisitry of Agriculture's Plant Health Diagnostic Station at Levin. There are currently 16 Herbaria operating in New
Zealand, 13 of which are registered internationally. The following herbarium collections have been
transferred to the collection indicated in brackets: |
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