__________________________________________________ Plant type Type specimens Total specimens __________________________________________________ Vascular plants Pteridophytes 16 5 000 Gymnosperms 10 1 000 Monocotyledons 116 12 000 Dicotyledons 273 129 000 Unincorporated 10 000 Cryptogams Mosses 55 51 000 Liverworts 67 22 500 Lichens 196 32 200 Fungi 4 3 000 Algae 400 Unincorporated 6 000 Total 737 272 000 __________________________________________________
In the past Herbarium and living collections material was accessioned separately, with manual links maintained between the two systems. Since 1977 there has been a policy of treating all accessions as a single item with a single accession number; various components (living, Herbarium, spirit, photograph, and so on) are linked by this single accession number. The Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS) database links all the accession components and makes this information available for research and management purposes.
To augment the representation of the collections and to provide material for research, field work has been undertaken to collect important or under-represented taxonomic groups or taxa from under-represented geographic areas, and duplicate specimens are exchanged with other botanical institutions.
The Gardens will continue to maintain high curatorial standards for the specimens in its care. The specimens will be stored and handled according to modern standards of herbarium curatorial practice. The identity of specimens will be kept as current as possible, according to the latest accepted taxonomic revisions. The associated collections of spirit material, wood samples, floral dissections and other collection components will continue to be maintained to the same standards as the main collection.
Specimen acquisition will occur through collection by staff members and through donations and exchanges from other institutions and individuals. An active field collection program will continue to collect taxa under-represented in the collection, taxa of research interest, and taxa from areas that are poorly known botanically. Collecting permits will be obtained from the authorities concerned and reports on collecting activities will be provided to those authorities.
The focus of the collection will continue to be Australian and related floras, and it will continue to concentrate on both vascular and non-vascular plants.
The database will be populated and maintained to reflect the Gardens' holdings of all associated material, the location of the items and their status.