Resources

Guidelines on how to collect, prepare and label specimens, plus links to other herbarium focused resources.

Plant collecting permits

Staff and students who wish to collect specimens from public land and water must seek permission and comply with the relevant legislative requirements.

About permits for collecting plants

Teaching resources

Learning about the use of a modern herbarium and collecting your own herbarium specimens is an important skill for anyone studying plant science.

To assist with this, we have developed the following documents and guidelines:

Research resources

The University of Melbourne Herbarium serves as a repository of research-associated voucher specimens for the university academic community including staff, graduate and undergraduate students.

Voucher specimens accompanied by comprehensive collection data and derived objects (e.g. microscope slides, SEM images) can be accessioned into MELU. You are welcome to contact us to discuss the suitability of voucher specimens for accession into MELU. Address your requests for accession of voucher specimens and curational support for specimen preparation to the Curator.

The following herbarium-based resources are available to University of Melbourne staff and students:

  • Access to the School of BioSciences plant collecting permit
  • Plant presses for loan during field work
  • A plant drier to preserve plant samples during specimen preparation
  • Access to the herbarium reference collections, following completion of induction and training on herbarium protocols
  • A template for recording collection data [MS Excel] to support accession of voucher specimens into the University of Melbourne Herbarium
  • Requests for the loan of herbarium specimens from national and international herbaria for research purposes
  • A small reference library of scientific and biodiversity literature.

Useful links