Visiting the Herbarium
IBSC is open to any visitor who has reasonable reason to check the collections. Anyone who is going to visit this herbarium should make an appointment by contacting the curator or assistant curator.
Herbarium Hours
l Normal working hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-12:00pm, 2:00pm-5:00pm.
l Special arrangements for checking specimens could be on weekends and holidays, but you must inform the director or assistant curator in advance.
On Arrival
Visitors had better arrive at normal working hours. On arrival, come to the herbarium to register with the assistant curator. Assistant curator will make a brief introduction to the facilities and collections of the herbarium.
Where to Find the Collections
The Herbarium consists of two buildings: South Building and North Building. So far, all specimens are located in the north building. The Pteridophytes, Bryophytes, Gymnosperms, and Monocots are located in the 1st floor, while Dicot families from Magnoliaceae (family 1) to Moraceae (family 167) in the 3rd floor, from Urticaceae (family 169) to Lamiaceae (family 264) in the 2nd floor. All type specimens are located in the right corner of the 2nd floor. Liquid preserved are stored at a small room near the north building.
Filling Systems
Families of Angiosperms are arranged according to the system of Hutchinson; Families of Gymnosperms by Zheng Wan-jun system; families of Pteridophytes by Ching Ren-Changsystem and Chen Bang-jie system for families of bryophytes. An index to the seed plants families and their family numbers can be found on the compactor range of each floor. Within a family, specimens are arranged alphabetically by genus. Within a genus, specimens are also arranged alphabetically by species. Some folders may have more than one taxon in them. The unidentified specimens are arranged at the end of corresponding family and genus. Please ask for assistance if you have any difficulty in locating materials.
l Smoking: No smoking is allowed in the herbarium.
l Food and Beverages: No food or beverages are allowed in the compactor ranges.
l Incoming specimens: Specimens may not be brought into the herbarium until they have been treated for potential insect pests. Contact the curator or herbarium assistants to arrange to have materials treated.
Refilling specimens
l Please do not refill any sheet that you have annotated. Set them aside so that they can be brought to be digitalized.
l Please refill any other specimens when you are finished with them, paying particular attention to the filing sequence.
Annotation
l For Mounted Specimens
Annotations should be legibly written in permanent ink (never ball-point pen) or printed on annotation labels. Annotations, preferably on labels approximately 2.5X10 cm, should bear the accepted name of the taxon, the name of the investigator and his or her institution and acronym and the date of annotation. Annotations should be glued to the specimen above or near the original label to facilitate filing and future study. All existing labels, annotations, etc. must not be removed, obscured or altered in any way. Where a sheet is found to contain two or more taxa, each element of the mixture should be clearly indicated with a separate determination slip. Please consult a staff member for printing larger quantities of annotation slips.
l For Unmounted Specimens
Please fill out a chit for each specimen determined indicating collector and number, your identification, your name and institutional acronym, date of your determination. Place the chit in the newspaper fold with the plant. Please do not mix the contents of folders. Gift specimens will be sent to you whenever possible. If you wish a loan of unmounted material, contact one of the herbarium assistants.
Removing material from specimens
l If you wish to remove material from mounted collections, you must first receive approval from the curator or curator assistant of the herbarium and then follow the following appropriate guidelines for sampling.
l Structures (seeds, fruits, leaf fragments, wood, flowers/spore-bearing structures etc.) may be removed only if there is ample material from which to select. Material in the fragment packet should be selected whenever possible. The entire structure or other parts of the specimen should not be damaged in removing the sample.
l Only the minimum amount of material needed may be taken.
l Only one or two specimens per taxon may be sampled; pollen/spores may be removed from no more than one flower/structure per sheet. If possible, the entire flower/structure should not be damaged.
l A specimen may not be sampled a second time.
l Sampling is restricted to non-type specimens.
l Any sampled specimen must be clearly annotated with what material was removed, by whom, for what purpose, etc. on an annotation label.
l DNA sequences must be registered with GenBank/EMBL accession numbers. For scanning electron microscope studies, a photograph (ca. 7X10 cm) of the structure should be returned to the IBSC. Each photograph should provide the collector’s name and number, name of taxon, IBSC accession number, and magnification, so that they can be easily associated with the mounted specimen.
l Acknowledge both the “IBSC” and each individual collector of material provided in each publication in which data is used.
Publications
All South China Botanical Garden herbarium specimens should be cited with the standard international acronym "IBSC” in any published lists of specimens. Where possible, a copy of any publication resulting from studies based on IBSC specimens should be sent to this herbarium.
