L’herbari de plantes vasculars

A herbarium is a collection of plants that have been properly prepared to ensure their indefinite preservation. A significant part of botanical research is based on herbaria, particularly in taxonomy, although they are also useful in floristic, biogeographical and even molecular studies. The herbarium serves as a record of plant specimens, descriptions and the materials used to document them. The type specimen of a plant (the material on which a new name is based) is, in most cases, a dried plant that has been deposited and preserved in a public herbarium.

The University of Valencia’s herbarium of vascular plants is the result of the merger of the former herbaria of the Faculties of Biology, Pharmacy and the Botanical Garden. It is housed in facilities designed to ensure the preservation of the specimens and to facilitate consultation by researchers. The herbarium specimens are stored in compact shelving units with a capacity of around 350,000 specimens. The merger of these three herbariums has created one of the most important in Spain, with over 250,000 specimens.

The new herbarium contains a good representation of the flora of the eastern half of the Iberian Peninsula, particularly the Valencia region and the Iberian mountain range. It also houses the personal herbaria of Vicent Guillén, Aurelio Gámir, Josep Borja and Manuel Calduch. The first two date from the late 19th century, and in addition to their own collections, they contain plants from Pau, Sennen and Font Quer, botanists with whom Guillén and Gámir exchanged specimens. The Borja herbarium consists mainly of specimens from the genus Sideritis, whilst Calduch focused his botanical work on the regions of Castelló, where his botanical explorations of the Columbretes Islands are particularly noteworthy.