| Quick links: Poisonous Plants
Handwriting
ICBN
IPNI
PLANTS
w3TROPICOS
|
Welcome to the Plant
Identification eCenter! This site serves as a gateway to the services and
resources provided by the Herbarium. It was developed to serve the needs of a
diverse clientele - from agents to students to professional taxonomists. Browsing
through the cascading menus above, you will find information on our plant identification
service, online plant ID resources, catalogues and databases, and more.
We are a NBII-GBIF
Data Provider and our collections databased to date can be
accessed through the
GBIF Portal. Captured data
is also available through the
Southeast flora atlas.
About us
Established in 1898, the Herbarium is
recognized internationally by the
Index Herbariorum abbreviation 'NCSC.'
Our primary missions are:
1. To document and understand plant diversity (Target 1 of the Global
Strategy for Plant Conservation [GSPC], Convention for Biological
Diversity), and
2. To transfer the taxonomic expertise developed to various users
that depend on the knowledge generated.
Documenting and understanding plant diversity is a necessary
prerequisite to assessing the conservation status of plant species and a
precondition to meeting the GSPC goal of conserving 60% of the world’s
threatened species in situ (Target 7 of the GSPC), as well as the
N.C. Cooperative Extension Service's (CES) strategic priority to protect
the environment and natural resources. We are active in understanding
and documenting plant diversity both locally and internationally. Our
efforts to transfer taxonomic expertise gained through our studies--via
floras, online plant identification resources, online specimen
catalogues, and plant identification services--should also contribute to
easing the “taxonomic impediment” to the sound management of
biodiversity that has been identified by governments through the
Convention on Biological Diversity.
Transferring taxonomic expertise also contributes to the CES strategic
priority “to strengthen the economy, through profitable, sustainable,
and safe food, forest, and green industry systems.” Accurate plant
identifications are vital extension contributions as they can (1)
prevent livestock loss through poisoning by identifying target plants
for removal from pastures, (2) prevent time and financial resources
being wasted on pursuing ineffective weed control measures, (3)
facilitate the identification of plant diseases of potentially economic
impact, (4) aid physicians in taking appropriate measures upon physical
ingestion of plant parts by patients, (5) aid state agencies (such as
the S.B.I. and the NC Wildlife Commission) in cases involving plant
products.
The Herbarium is
maintained by the
Department of Plant Biology with funding from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and the North Carolina
Agricultural Research Service. Committed to research, teaching, and
extension service, the herbarium is used locally by faculty and students, as well as by
visiting scientists. In addition, through an active specimen loan program, NCSC
serves monographic and floristic research at similar institutions around the world.
Comprising about 125,000 specimens, NCSC is the third largest and second oldest of North
Carolinas three major collections. A brief history can be found here.
|
