Improvement of the Vascular Plant Collection, University of Arizona Herbarium

亚利桑那大学的植物标本馆目前拥有约315，000张，是该地区最大的植物标本馆。它拥有来自亚利桑那州和墨西哥索诺拉州的最大的植物收藏，以及来自干旱的墨西哥西南部和西北部所有其他地区的重要收藏。 在植物标本馆的历史过程中，积压了大约8万件标本。 按照目前的收录速度，需要十多年的时间来处理这些材料，以便将其添加到植物标本馆，并将副本分发给其他植物标本馆。 大部分材料具有历史意义，至少有一半的积压是从墨西哥西北部仍然鲜为人知的地区收集的。 该地区的植物在其他植物标本馆中的代表性很差，包括墨西哥的植物标本馆。 获得所有这些材料将加快亚利桑那大学和其他机构正在进行的一些系统的、植物区系的、民族植物学的和古气候学的研究项目。将进行一个为期两年的项目，使植物标本室能够完成大约三分之二的积压工作，以便在当地获得。 这将涉及准备植物标本馆标本永久存档或分发的标准步骤：从野外记录中准备标签，归档，分类副本分发到植物标本馆，植物标本馆与之有交换计划，包装和运输。

The herbarium at the University of Arizona, with about 315,000 sheets at present, is the largest herbarium in the region. It holds the largest collection of plants from Arizona and from the state of Sonora, Mexico, and significant holdings form all other parts of the arid southwest and northwestern Mexico. A backlog of some 80,000 specimens has accumulated over the course of the herbarium s history. At the current rate of accession, more than a decade would be required to process this material for addition to the herbarium and for distribution of duplicates to other herbaria. Much of the materials is of historical significance and at least half of the backlog was collected form still poorly known areas of northwestern Mexico. Plants form this area are poorly represented in other herbaria, including those in Mexico. Access to all of this material will expedite a number of ongoing systematic, floristic, ethnobotanical and paleoclimatological research projects that are underway at the University of Arizona and other institutions. A two-year project will be conducted to enable the herbarium to work through about two-thirds of the backlog to be accessioned locally. This will entail the standard steps involved in preparing herbarium specimens for permanent archival or distribution: preparation of labels from field notes, filing, sorting duplicates for distribution to herbaria with which the herbarium has an exchange program, packing and shipping.