Compton Herbarium
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MISSION |
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HistoryFounded in 1937 by Prof R.H. Compton, the second director of the National Botanical Gardens, and with the South African Museum Herbarium (SAM) incorporated in 1957 and the Stellenbosch Herbarium (STE) in 1996, the Compton Herbarium is now the second largest herbarium in southern Africa with about 750 000 specimens. The South African Museum Herbarium (SAM), the oldest in Africa and one of the oldest in the southern hemisphere, originated when the visiting German collector, C.F. Ecklon, deposited 325 of his specimens in the museum in 1825. When the museum was reconstituted in 1855, Dr Ludwig Pappe took charge of the herbarium and is considered to be its founder. He was appointed as the first Colonial Botanist in 1858. On his death in 1863, his private collection, which included Carl Zeyher's main herbarium, was bought for the Cape Government Herbarium, which was housed in the same room as the Museum Herbarium in the Museum. Under Prof Peter MacOwan, as Colonial Botanist, the two collections gradually became merged and considerably increased. In 1910 the Cape Government ceded the so called "Cape Government Herbarium" to the Museum. It was housed from 1956 with the Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch and finally donated by the Trustees of the South African Museum to the National Botanical Institute in 1988. The Stellenbosch Herbarium (STE) was founded in 1902 by Dr A Vera Duthie on her appointment to the Victoria College (now University of Stellenbosch). Due to lack of funds the University Council decided to hand the general herbarium over to the State and in 1960 it became known as the Governament Herbarium/Staatsherbarium, Stellenbosch. The District Herbarium was retained by the University (STEU). With the amalgamation of the state botanical interests in 1989 it became part of the new National Botanical Institute, but was only able to be combined with the NBG herbarium in 1996. |
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CollectionsThe collections are housed in a modern building built in 1996 in the research complex at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town. The building is situated on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain just below some patches of fine afromontane forest with the mountain towering above it in the background. |
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The modern cupboards are of metal with magnetic sealed doors. There is filtered, forced-air ventilation -full air-conditioning being too expensive. The specimens are arranged following the system employed in the List of Southern African Plants based on PRECIS There are approximately 750 000 specimens covering mainly the winter-rainfall region of southern Africa, but there are also many valuable old specimens from around the world in SAM. The collections consist of pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms only. The marine algal collections were recently donated to the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg (NU), the fungi to the National Mycological Herbarium in Pretoria (PREM) and the lichens and bryophytes to our sister herbarium, the National Herbarium in Pretoria (PRE). For historical reasons the SAM collections, the oldest in the country, are kept separate from the general herbarium and are sent out separately on loan under the SAM label. |
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Plant Identification Service at the Compton HerbariumPlant material (live or dried) from the following groups will be accepted for identification: Southern African ferns, cycads, cedars and flowering plants; cultivated exotics and weeds. The Compton Herbarium does not identify lower plant groups like mosses, algae, lichens or mushrooms (fungi).
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Details of other facilities and services offered by the Herbarium |
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© South African National Biodiversity Institute |