The University of Georgia Herbarium
Affiliated
with the University of Georgia Botany Department and the Georgia Museum
of Natural History, the University of Georgia Herbarium is a major regional
repository of over 228,000 pressed, dried, and mounted vascular plant samples
of the flora of Georgia and the Southeast. It is the most significant research
resource of its kind in Georgia and is one of the largest in the Southeast.
Its operations, programs, and services are national and international in
scope and provide a wide range of important functions. In addition to its
role as an educational and research resource, collection personnel respond
to thousands of specialized information and identification requests each
year from individuals as well as municipal, state, and federal agencies
from throughout the nation. For more information about the herbarium click
on one of the links below.
Current
Activities
Faculty & Staff
Students
Georgia Wildflower
Page
History
Herbarium
Policies & Protocols
-
Herbarium Policies
-
Plant ID Protocol
Current Activities
Currently the faculty and staff of the Herbarium are revising
The
Distribution of the Vascular Flora of Georgia, originally published
by Jones and Coile in 1988. This revision is urgently needed because many
new species of native and introduced species have been collected since
in Georgia. This includes plants found during numerous floristic
inventories the Herbarium has completed in Georgia at Ft. Gordon (Augusta),
Ft. Stewart (Hinesville), Stone Mtn. Park (Stone Mtn.), and most recently
Callaway Gardens (Pine Mtn.). The
Distribution of the Vascular Flora of Georgia project has been developed
by Patrick Sweeney and David Giannasi with support from the Vice President's
Office for Service and Outreach, University of Georgia and the Georgia
State Department of Natural Resources.
The Herbarium has a major service function in providing
identification of native and naturalized plants to University students
and faculty, state agents, and interested amateur botanists in the state
of Georgia. The Herbarium has an active loan program, sending out specimens
of Georgia plants to academic and museum research faculty in other states
and countries.
The Herbarium also carries out an active specimen exchange
program with other herbaria in the United States, Canada, and other countries
in the world. In this way the University of Georgia Herbarium has a comprehensive
collection of plants from Georgia and surrounding states as well as more
exotic species from foreign countries, which are most helpful to our research
faculty and in teaching taxonomy courses. These courses could not remain
at their present level of quality without the availability of the specimens
in the Herbarium.
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Faculty & Staff
Director: Dr.
David E. Giannasi - giannasi@plantbio.uga.edu
Curator: Dr.
Wendy B. Zomlefer - wendyz@plantbio.uga.edu
Assistant to the Curator: Hilde Wooten
- hilde@plantbio.uga.edu
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History
The Herbarium was established in the 1920's by John N.
("Botany") Reade. The collection
underwent its first reorganization by Joseph H. Pyron and Rodgers McVaugh
in the 1930's. These botanists published the first monographic treatment
of the ferns of Georgia, sponsored by the Garden Club of Georgia and published
by the University of Georgia Press in 1951.
The Herbarium was greatly expanded under the direction
of Wilbur H. Duncan who served as curator until his retirement in June,
1978. Dr. Duncan remains active and publishes on the flora of Georgia and
the southeastern U.S., as evidenced by his recent work entitled Wildflowers
of the Eastern United States, which was co-authored with his wife,
Marion Duncan, and published in 1999. Dr. Duncan is 88 years of age.
Dr. Samuel B. Jones, Jr. was appointed Curator in July
1978 and Dr. Nancy C. Coile served as Assistant Curator until 1989. From
1978 to 1980, the herbarium was reorganized, its scope broadened and the
Herbarium Library was formally established. In 1981, Dr. Jones was named
Director of the Herbarium and Dr. Coile was named curator. Dr. Michael
O. Moore became curator in 1989, and Dr. David E. Giannasi became Director
in 1991 upon the retirement of Dr. Jones. Dr. Moore unexpectedly passed
away in February of 1999 leaving the Curator position open. In August of
2000 Dr. Wendy B. Zomlefer will begin as the new Curator of the Herbarium.
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Visit
the Georgia Wildflower Page!
