On the 6th of October at 11:00, the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Madeira (FCV-UMa), in conjunction with the Madeira Botany Group (GBM), officially opened their new Herbarium facilities.
Under the MACFLOR2 Project (MAC/4.6d/386) the Mobile Cabinet System (MSC) for the GBM/FCV herbarium has been finally installed; its installation has been planned since 1999. According to a press statement from the UMa, the acquisition of the Mobile Cabinet System is essential for all project activities, including the characterisation of natural populations and endemisms of vascular plants under study.
Field work carried out over the last two decades has resulted in the collection of around 40,000 specimens whose storage under conditions that guarantee their preservation is essential. Through this and the installation of the correct air conditioning system, all herbarium specimens can be stored in the correct museological conditions.
This equipment meets the organising needs of the UMa herbarium (UMad, Herbarium Richard Thomas Lowe) which includes the collections of plants related to various research projects that have been developed over the last 20 years, these include projects related to several doctoral and master’s thesis, as well as results from pedagogical activities.
The new equipment constitutes a valuable contribution to the development of botanical science, in its most diverse facets, as it also includes a mycological collection and an important collection of plant fossils found in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
