Queensland Herbarium

The Queensland Herbarium is part of a national and international network of herbaria which exchange specimens and scientific information, helping to improve our knowledge of the Queensland flora. Its staff and research associates use the specimen collections to provide comprehensive and expert knowledge about Queensland’s flora, fungi and ecosystems.

The Queensland Herbarium contributes biodiversity science and information relied upon by a broad range of stakeholders including industry sectors, landholders, and the community for the management of the state’s biodiversity. It supports a range of Commonwealth and state legislation, and any plant collected for research or biodiscovery purposes in Queensland must be provided to the Queensland Herbarium, as required by the Biodiscovery Act 2004 and Nature Conservation Act 1992.

State scientific collection

The Queensland Herbarium’s collection of 910,000 specimens underpins our knowledge of the state’s species and  ecosystems. It preserves a vast volume of information about Queensland’s plants, algae, and macro-fungi, representing over 150 years of effort documenting species across Queensland, and the state’s biodiversity through space and time.

The collection is internationally recognised in the Index Herbariorum (a worldwide index of 3,100 herbaria housing 390 million botanical specimens). Over 10,000 type specimens, the specimens to which new names are permanently assigned, are housed in the Queensland Herbarium for reference by taxonomists and researchers from around the world.

Annually, scientists associated with the herbarium describe 20-50 species new to western taxonomy. Each year at least 10,000 new specimens are added to the collection, which dates back to 1770 and the original collections of Banks and Solander.

Research case study – Phytomining collaboration

The environmental rehabilitation of abandoned mines and surrounding land often requires amelioration of soil contaminated with heavy metalsOne potential solution is the strategic use of ‘hyperaccumulators’, plant species that can thrive in these soils and accumulate specific metals into their biomass. These plants are able  to ‘phytomine’ selected metals from the soil and concentrate them  in their tissues.

Only 0.2 percent of plant species are currently known to be hyperaccumulators, with possible applications for mine rehabilitation. Specimens held in the  Queensland Herbarium are being investigated by University of Queensland scientists in the hope of identifying additional species of phytomining hyperaccumulators.

Access to the collection

You can access the Queensland Herbarium data through The Australasian Virtual Herbarium.

If you are a member of the public, you can use the Queensland Herbarium’s public reference centre (more information on the website) to identify your own plant specimens, using microscopes, identification guides and reference specimens. The Queensland Herbarium is open 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.

The Queensland Herbarium collection may be accessed by bona fide researchers. Requests for access should be addressed to the Director in advance.