Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Edificio 425.
Bogotá D.C.
Colombia
Web: http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/ICN/
Ph.D. Lauren Raz
Email: lraz@unal.edu.co
The National Colombian Herbarium (COL) of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, has 500 000 mounted specimens, 420 000 of them corresponding to Colombian plants. This is, by far, the world's largest collection of Colombian plant specimens. This Herbarium is kept by a team of 28 curators, including 18 staff members and 10 graduate students. This team includes many specialists in particular plant groups. Their research keeps identification of specimens updated to a high degree.
The National Colombian Herbarium is planning to digitize its 6700 types under the Latin American Plants Initiative. Release of this information on plant types must be supported by a sound catalogue of the plants occurring in the country, so that both the identity of each species and its correct name are properly documented. The Instituto de Ciencias Naturales of Universidad Nacional de Colombia is currently producing a catalogue of the plants occurring in Colombia, a mammoth work that will include about 30 000 species. The Catalogue, which has been considered as the first priority of systematics in Colombia for the 21 st century, will cover all vascular and non-vascular plants known to grow in the country, and will be a vital reference for plant studies in Latin America.