Pycnandra acuminata, a tree from New Caledonia, with latex exudate containing nickel

The Queensland Herbarium ( Index Herbariorum code: BRI) is situated at the

Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha The Brisbane Botanic Gardens (formerly the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens and informally the Toowong Botanic Gardens) are located from the Brisbane CBD at the foot of Brisbane's tallest mountain, Mount Coot-tha in the suburb of Mount Coot-th ...

, in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is part of Queensland's Department of Environment and Science. It is responsible for discovering, describing, monitoring, modelling, surveying, naming and classifying Queensland's plants, and is the focus for information and research on the state's plants and plant communities.

Origins

The history of the Herbarium as an institution starts in 1855 with the appointment of

Walter Hill Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

as Superintendent of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, four years before Queensland separated from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

as a colony. In 1859, with Separation, Hill was appointed Colonial Botanist as well as remaining Director of the Gardens, a position he was to hold until 1881. At the time the main function of colonial botanic gardens was usually to facilitate the introduction of suitable economic plants, although native plants would be collected as well. However, Hill's successor as Colonial Botanist was

Frederick Manson Bailey Frederick Manson Bailey (8 March 1827 – 25 June 1915) was a botanist active in Australia, who made valuable contributions to the characterisation of the flora of Queensland. He was known by his middle name, Manson. Early life Bailey was bo ...

, an established botanist already in charge of the herbarium at the Queensland Museum. Bailey remained in office for 34 years, until his death in 1915, and energetically worked at building up the herbarium collection through correspondence, exchange and numerous expeditions throughout the state. Since 1855 the herbarium collection has been housed in five different places, and its botanical library in six. In 1998 the Herbarium moved to its current site within the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. The number of plant specimens in the collection is over 890,000, mainly from Queensland.

Herbarium directors

Over the years, the Herbarium has gone through numerous departmental reorganizations and the officer in charge has been known by a variety of titles, from Colonial Botanist through Government Botanist, Director and Chief Botanist: * 1855–1881 –

* 1881–1915 –

* 1915–1917 –

John Frederick Bailey John Frederick Bailey (5 August 1866 – 19 May 1938) was a botanist and horticulturist active in Australia in the late 19th and early 20th century. Bailey became Director of the Botanic Gardens of Brisbane in 1905. He succeeded his father, Fre ...

* 1917–1950 –

Cyril Tenison White Cyril Tenison ("C.T.") White (17 August 1890 – 15 August 1950) was an Australian botanist. Early life White was born in Brisbane to Henry White, a trade broker, and Louisa ''nee'' Bailey. He attended school at South Brisbane State School, an ...

* 1950–1954 – William Douglas Francis * 1954–1976 – Selwyn L. Everist * 1976–1990 – Robert W. Johnson * 1990–1994 – (''no head'') * 1994–present – Gordon P. Guymer

References

* Henderson, R.J.F. (2002). ''The Queensland Herbarium, 1855–2002''. Queensland Herbarium: Toowong.

External links

Queensland Herbarium
Herbaria in Australia 1855 establishments in Australia {{sci-org-stub