Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
UMR AMAP, Centre IRD de Nouméa
B.P. A5 - 98848 – Nouméa
New Caledonia
Sandrine Isnard
Email: sandrine.isnard@ird.fr
The herbarium holds approximately 85 000 specimens of vascular plants, principally from New Caledonia (~75 000) with specimens from other Pacific Territories (Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Australia, Fiji, Solomon ...). The herbarium was founded in 1963 by Orstom (former name of the french Research Institute for Development, IRD). It inspired many researches in taxonomy and ecology with an historical focus on the vegetation on ultramafic soils, that constitutes a strong originality of New Caledonia.
In the course of its history, the herbarium has been associated with research on taxonomy, systematic, ecology and biogeography of New Caledonian flora and vegetation. Since 2009 the herbarium is part of UMR AMAP (Nouméa, New Caledonia and Montpellier, France), an interdisciplinary joint research unit on plant diversity and community ecology.
The herbarium holds ~800 types (mainly isotypes). The oldest specimens date back to 1855, and the herbarium aggregates numerous private collections dating from the years 1855-1860 (gift of duplicates from MNHN). The largest collection is that of Hugh S. MacKee (1912-1995), who worked for the CNRS and deposited his collections at the MNHN. NOU’s classification follows the Checklist of the vascular indigenous flora of New Caledonia “Florical” Morat P, Jaffré T, Tronchet F, Munzinger J, Pillon Y, Veillon JM, Chalopin M: Le référentiel taxonomique Florical et les caractéristiques de la flore vasculaire indigène de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Adansonia sér 3 2012, 34(2):177-219.
DNA Banking: As an aid for research in molecular phylogenetics, the herbarium maintains a collection of material specifically intended for DNA extraction. Leaf samples collected by botanists are preserved in silica gel and stored at –20º C. As of December 2016, 2300 accessions (1500 species of vascular plants) have been catalogued.
The collection also includes liquid-preserved specimens (fruits and flowers) and ca. 400 dried fruits.
Visitors include researchers, students, amateur botanists, and stakeholders interested in biodiversity conservation issues. The herbarium provides scientific services for NGO, Provincial authorities and the general public, including plant identification, sharing herbarium data and visits. The herbarium is a strong partner of the Red List Authority (RLA-Flora, IUCN) of New Caledonia.
Type specimens have been digitized thanks to an ‘Investissement d’Avenir’ grant of the French ANR (ANR-11-INBS-0004, infrastructure eReColNat), and to Cresica consortium in New Caledonia.