The value of a collection depends on how many people can use it: Going online with the JRAU herbarium
If access is endless, then so are ideas and creativity.
Do you want to determine which plant species were present on the peak of a random hill in the middle of nowhere in February 1992? Ask a herbarium specimen.
Do you want to know how the species composition has changed over the years, from 1992 to 2023, on that same random hill? Ask a few herbarium specimens.
Let’s get a little more “crazy” with our questions…
Do you want to know which plant species were associated with a specific cultural group during a specific time that the group was settled in a specific area (lots of specifics)? And how these plants influenced the movement of this group from place to place (assuming that the group would move to areas that accommodated their preferred plant diet)? If you do want to know this, then guess what…you can ask a whole room full of herbarium specimens!
And by room full of herbarium specimens, I mean a herbarium. But today, I would like to take it a little further than a room full of herbarium specimens…Let’s imagine that you would like to visit our little herbarium, the JRAU herbarium, at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. For some of you to be able to get into this room; you will need to get into a car. For others to get into this room, you would need to get into a car, onto a flight, then into another car. You know where I am going with this…
In most cases, getting into a room is just not an option so we need to bring this room to you. We have to, because you might have questions that no one else has thought of. Questions that a room full of herbarium specimens can answer!
To solve the cars and flights problem, we are going online! So please watch out for our little room full of herbarium specimens that will soon be online; so that our room can become your room. We look forward to being a part of the interesting stories that your questions will tell.
