Herbarium E-mails

It started with an e-mail blast from Bob Sivinski on the NM Rare Plants list-serv.

From: NMRAREPLANTS-L <NMRAREPLANTS-L@LIST.UNM.EDU> On Behalf Of Bob Sivinski
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2021 2:18 PM
To: NMRAREPLANTS-L@LIST.UNM.EDU
Subject: [NMRAREPLANTS-L] NM Herbarium Speciments

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After relying on SEINet for studying so many aspects of the NM flora, I decided to take a quick look at the number of herbarium specimens and observations for NM counties in the SEINet consortium (attached).

As expected, the counties with mostly private land in the eastern plains are the least collected areas and counties with universities or mountain ranges with National Forests are the best represented. Some of these numbers are a bit overblown because of numerous specimen duplicates being sent to various SEINet herbaria. Still – you can get an idea of where we might start putting in a little more effort to better sample the state.

NM plant collection intensity fluctuated over the years. It started a downward slide in the 1980s, but picked up again around the turn of the century with Ron Hartman and his student’s efforts in the northern mountains and the Heil et al. expeditions to more thoroughly collect NM. Recent years, however, show NM collections waning again. UNM herbarium receives fewer specimens now and NMC stopped contributing NM collections to SEINet in 2015. Fortunately, SJCC, Jemez and SNM (especially bryophytes) are still fairly active. BLM collections are increasing at various district offices, which unfortunately are not lending institutions. A surprisingly high number of NM plant specimens end up going to herbaria in Arizona.

Maria Thomas picked up on this and chimed in with a kind word about our Botanic Garden herbarium.

On 12/18/2021 8:34 AM Thomas, Maria J. <mjthomas@cabq.gov> wrote:

Hello,

Karl Horak has been spearheading an herbarium here at the Botanic Garden. This is something I think we could definitely assist with. CC’ing Karl to get him excited about the idea. I know UNM has a herbarium as well but it may be beneficial to keep samples in multiple locations.

-Maria

To which I replied...

Happy Christmakwanzakah, everyone,

We continue to be enthusiastic about the little BioPark herbarium.  With a retired archivist and an eager student from SIPI helping out, we've been making good progress on mounting the backlog of specimens that were waiting in the presses when Covid shut us down. 

So far we've exclusively collected from the Botanic Garden, focusing on rare plants and specimens that we think would be helpful in educational programs.  We're also trying to get a wide representation of the plant families that are here at the Garden. 

Meanwhile, between Clay Meredith's IUCN red list work on medicinal species, the citizen-science work with Nature's Notebook, and the Botanic Garden's seed bank, there's plenty of conceptual room to expand.  That's even if our cabinet is only half-height (https://www.southwestsolutions.com/divisions/museums/herbarium-botany-storage-cabinets/stacking-counter-height-museum-cabinet-specimens-collection-preservation-storage/).  While that link shows our model, I have no idea where the Rotary Club purchased the kit that we have.  It would be nice to think that in some future upgrade of the Botanic Garden there could be a dedicated research center.  Maybe we can get Dr. Spellenberg out of retirement to help out. 

Cheers!

Karl

And finally, a suggestion from Bob.

A good idea to have dried specimens of all the plants in the garden plus the common landscaping plants about town. Might get a lot of public inquiry and use.

Cheers for the Holidays,,, Bob