The University and Jepson Herbaria are constantly growing collections,
reflecting the on-going growth in our knowledge of plant diversity and
distribution. New acquisitions result primarily from 1) in-house staff
and student collections, 2) standing exchange programs with other
herbaria world-wide, 3) specimens sent as gift-for-identification to
in-house researchers, and 4) gifts from a diversity of sources,
especially non-academic professionals and native plant enthusiasts. The
latter often serve as our most valued source of new records from under
collected areas in the western United States.
In general, the Jepson Herbarium (JEPS) accessions only vascular plants
from California, whereas the University Herbarium (UC) covers all plant
groups world-wide. Gifts of California plants will be deposited in the
Jepson Herbarium unless the donor specifies otherwise.
All exchange is through the University Herbarium. At present we are not
soliciting new exchange programs, due to limitations in our capacity to
generate and process outgoing material, consisting primarily of
specimens from the western United States.
To minimize redundancy of specimens in the San Francisco Bay Area, we
have a non-duplication policy with the California Academy of Sciences
(CAS/DS). Exceptions are made for types and other particularly
significant collections.
Because of limited specimen processing resources and storage capacity,
specimens submitted for accessioning in the University of California at
Berkeley herbaria should generally meet the criteria detailed as follows:
- Be well-prepared, with sufficient material to occupy a standard
herbarium sheet (unless rarity dictates otherwise). Extraneous plants
and dirt should be removed (note associates and substrate on label if
relevant, not as part of the specimen!). For more information about how specimens are mounted on herbarium sheets, see the video How To Mount Plants provided by the California Academy of Sciences Department of Botany.
- Possess fertile structures and/or other critical identifying features
appropriate to the plant group.
- Be accompanied by ready-to-mount labels (permanent ink on acid free
paper) with complete label data.
- Be accompanied by electronic data corresponding in content to the printed-out label and capable
of being converted to our data base format.
- Fall within the following desiderata:
- Uncommon or otherwise
interesting plants from California. This includes range extensions,
material from under-collected areas, and significant recollections or
similar vouchers.
- Good collections from the
western United States, especially if uncommon or otherwise interesting.
- Specimens from Latin
America, including Mexico and the West Indies.
- Specimens from Asia and
the Pacific Basin, including Australasia.
- Specimens from
Mediterranean and other arid regions worldwide.
- Representatives of unusual
plant groups worldwide.
- Representatives of groups
under investigation by UC-JEPS staff (e.g., pteridophytes,
Compositae, herbaceous Rosaceae)
- Cultivated material only
if 1) from the Bay Area or 2) the locality of the wild source population
is indicated and falls within the above desiderata.
- Vouchers for studies
undertaken at UC-Berkeley. (In the case of large voucher sets, a
representative subset will be fully accessioned and cross-referenced to
the remainder, which will be kept unmounted in a voucher storage area).
- Unidentified specimens from interesting areas and earlier times, as long as good locality data are present (accepted on a case-by-case basis).
Specimens submitted by mail for accession should be addressed to:
Andrew Doran
University of California, Berkeley
University and Jepson Herbaria
1001 Valley Life Sciences Building #2465
Berkeley, CA 94720-2465
USA
