Herbarium use guidelines

Herbarium Use

Anyone new to the Herbarium must receive an orientation tour. Contact Nicole or Matthew (Phan.) or Laura (Crypt.) to set this up.

Reminders:

No food or drink is allowed in the herbarium. If you need a refreshement break, food and drinks can be left in the entrance vestibule on each floor.  

Please turn off any lights in the herbarium that are no longer needed (when you're finished with an aisle). Please turn all the lights off at the end of the day if you are the last to leave.

Visitors to the Herbarium: 

For visitors coming to the herbarium, see the Herbarium Visitor Information page on our main website.

For staff who are hosting or orienting a visitor, see our Guidelines for orienting visitors

Visitor badges (key cards) work 7 days/week, 6am-9pm. General staff badges work M-F, 6am-9pm.

Handling the compactors and cabinets properly:

Please only move one bank of cabinets at a time, and do not open an aisle halfway.

To unlock an aisle please do not slam the button! Gently push it in halfway, and when you start to feel tension you may then use more force to unlock it completely.

If pushing a cart in the herbarium please be careful not to hit the compactor handle and manual lock peg.

When you are finished, please make sure nothing is left in the aisles and also that cabinets are completely closed, with latches at top and bottom of the doors engaged and both handles in the closed position.

After removing specimens for study:  

Please do refile any genus and species covers and any specimens that you did not annotate. 

Please do not refile any specimens that you have annotated. We must record new identifications and name changes for many of the specimens. There are cubbies on each floor of the herbarium to leave such specimens. Visitors may also leave them on the half-high counters. 

Annotations:

If you are annotating many specimens, you may use this template [add link] to make annotation labels, or use your own pre-printed annotation labels.

We also have herbarium supplied annotation labels that can be found in multiple baskets on each floor of the herbarium (generally near the microscopes). If we are running low on annotation labels, please ask a member of the staff to refill the baskets.  Annotation labels for types can be found on the third floor (near the type collection) or you can use the printable templates here.  

• Phan: We ask everyone to please glue all annotation labels onto the sheets.  
• Crypt: Put the new annotation under the lip of the packet or inside the box.

Please do not refile any specimens that you have annotated. We must record new identifications and name changes for many of the specimens. There are cubbies on each floor of the herbarium to leave such specimens. Visitors may also leave annotated specimens (specimens only; not genus or species folders) on the half-high counters.

Sampling specimens:

If you need to sample specimens, please read the Destructive Sampling Policy and consult Matthew (Phan.), Laura (Crypt.), or ask the herbarium staff member providing your orientation. 

Curating herbarium:

Visitors: If your study results in the necessity of a rearrangement of our collections, please leave the specimens that you annotated on a table with a complete list of synonyms, so that the specimens can be filed and cross-referenced properly.

Staff: If specimens need to be shifted or new folders made, and you're not trained in current curation procedues, please contact Nicole (Phan.) or Laura (Crypt.).

Supplies like genus covers, species covers, and packets can be requested from Nicole (Phan.) or Laura (Crypt.).

General supplies like glue, forceps, barcodes, etc. can be requested from Lisa Lall.

 

How to request genus covers

How to make cross references [add link]

Supplies:

If you need glue, annotation slips, destructive sampling slips, genus/species covers, label paper, packets, microscope bulbs, etc., or if you notice that they are running low in the herbarium or visitor offices, please contact Nicole or Lisa Lall.

Microscopes:

Dissecting microscopes are provided at various stations throughout the Herbarium and in the visitor offices. 

If there is a problem with any of the scopes in the Herbarium or in the visitor offices, please contact Nicole.

Please do not move scopes or lamps to different stations.

Computers:

If there is a problem with any of the computers in the Herbarium or in the visitor offices, please contact Leanna. If it is an EMu or Virtual Herbarium problem, please contact one of the Information Managers (Kim, Leanna, Joel).

Wi-Fi is available in the herbarium -- it's called "NYBGfree". Once you connect to the network, you will be taken to a webpage to agree to NYBG's conditions of use. 

Organization of the Herbarium

Phanerogamic

Families are arranged numerically in the Englerian sequence, modified to reflect the families recognized by Cronquist, 1988.

• Family lists are posted in several places on each floor. You can also consult the family list here.
• Know your family number, but unsure which floor it's on? Consult the herbarium layout by floor. 

NOTE: We do not use APG IV for all plant families (we're working on updating some sections of the herbarium to reflect this system). If you're unsure which plant family NY uses to file specimens, you can search for the genus/species in the taxonomy module in EMu. Or you can search for the genus/sepcies on the C. V. Starr Virtual Herbarium website (type in your search, click on any specimen to view the specimen details page where you can see the filed as family name).   

Within each family, the genera are sorted alphabetically; each genus is sorted into geographical regions in color-coded folders (see below); and within geographic regions the species are sorted alphabetically, with unidentified specimens at the end of each category.

Boxes of separate parts, including fruits, are filed at the end of each family. 

Geography

Specimens are filed in the herbarium in the following sequence:

                US  United States and Canada (includes Greenland)

                CA  Mexico and Central America (includes Baja California)

                WI  West Indies (includes The Bahamas and Bermuda)

                BR  Brazil (Only the following families should be filed with Brazil as a separate geographical region!)

                    47  Bromeliaceae

                    51   Juncaceae

                    56  Velloziaceae

                    64  Burmanniaceae

                    71  Chloranthaceae

                    90  Balanophoraceae

                    146  Chrysobalanaceae

                    148  Connaraceae

                    171.1  Krameriaceae

                    172  Dichapetalaceae

                    209  Caryocaraceae

                    224  Flacourtiaceae

                    245  Lecythidaceae

                    269  Sapotaceae

                SA  South America (includes Trinidad and Tobago)

                EUR  Europe (includes Iceland and part of the former USSR)

                AFR  Africa (includes Madagascar, Seychelles & Kerguelen Islands)

                NAS  Northern Asia (includes part of the former USSR)

                TAS  Tropical Asia (includes Hainan, Tibet)

                AUS  Australia (includes New Zealand)

                PAC  Pacifica (includes Hawaii & New Caledonia)

Small islands are filed with the closest geographical area. Color coded maps can be found on each floor of the herbarium, or you can view the map here [add link]. 

 

Types

Type specimens are arranged in a similar fashion as the general collection, but in a separate part of the herbarium.

Phanerogamic types are filed on the 3rd floor. Type specimens are filed under the basionym in the currently accepted family.

Fern types are filed at the end of the general fern collection on the 5th floor. They are in alphabetical order by basionym (geography is ignored).

Cryptogamic types are filed in the general collection, inside the first red folder for each genus, by basionym.

Anyone annotating type specimens, or visitors selecting types for a loan, should only remove the specimens themselves from the cabinets to be placed on the countertop.  All folders must be returned to the cabinets in the correct order.

Pest Control

Everyone should be concerned about insect infestations in the herbarium and work areas in this complex of buildings. The ONLY pest free zones are the herbarium and visitor offices in the International Plant Science Center (IPSC) building. Specimens that have been out of the herbarium and held anywhere else MUST be frozen before being refiled in the herbarium building. The entire Library Building is NOT a bug free zone, if you bring specimens to your office, they MUST be frozen before refiling in the herbarium.

Freezing Specimens: 

Specimens in the Phan. are to be frozen for three days.  Available freezers, on the first and fourth floors of the Library Building, can be opened Tuesday and Friday afternoons, between 2pm and 5pm.  Do not open the freezers to drop off or pick up specimens at any other time, to ensure the specimens go through the entire freezing cycle.

Ask Lucy, Edgardo, or Nicole for an introduction to this process.

Specimens in the Crypt are frozen for a week, those freezers can be opened Wednesdays, please contact Laura.

Pheromone traps:  

The most common pest is the herbarium beetle (Lasioderma serricorne).  To monitor for the presence of this beetle, pheromone traps are used. The monitoring is directed by Edgardo, who requests periodically by email that each of us check our traps. You can get a trap from him to assess your office or herbarium cabinet.

Cold storage room:  

On the first floor, the cold room is maintained at a temperature that inhibits feeding by herbarium beetle larvae.  The room houses specimens received on exchange and awaiting mounting, specimens to be sent on exchange, and staff collections awaiting identification.  Any collections to be placed in this room must first be frozen.