National Herbarium of Victoria
Private Bag 2000
South Yarra
Victoria
3141
Australia
Web: http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/
Alison Vaughan
Email: Alison.Vaughan@rbg.vic.gov.au
The National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), based at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, is a centre for excellence for plant biodiversity and plays a vital role in the study and conservation of Australia’s plant life, enriching our understanding of native plants, especially in Victoria.
The oldest scientific institution in the state, the National Herbarium of Victoria was founded by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1853 when he was appointed the first Government Botanist of Victoria. The Herbarium houses a collection of approximately 1.4 million dried plant, algae and fungi specimens. The collection comprises approximately 800,000 specimens collected in Australia, with particular emphasis on the flora of Victoria and 400,000 collected overseas. It includes representatives of most of Australia's vascular flora plus algae, bryophyte, lichen and fungi collections of international significance. It is one of the largest herbarium collections in Australia, and the richest in historical and type specimens.
MEL's collection is also rich in historical specimens and foreign-collected specimens: about half of the specimens were collected before 1900, and one third were collected overseas. The majority of the foreign collection comes from the herbarium of German botanist Otto Sonder which spans all major plant groups and contains specimens from every reach of the globe.