NU Herbarium, University of KwaZulu-Natal
P/Bag X01
Scottsville
Pietermaritzburg 3209
South Africa
Christina Potgieter
Email: potgietercj@ukzn.ac.za
The NU Herbarium (University of KwaZulu-Natal) is located on the second floor of the John Bews Building, a location that has resulted in it often, and incorrectly, being referred to as the Bews Herbarium. The facility was founded in 1910 and currently houses approximately 130 000 specimens, making it the largest herbarium collection in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The collection is primarily associated with research on the floras of the eastern seaboard of South Africa. This is a teaching and research herbarium, offering a plant identification service to members of the public and environmental consultants at nominal cost. The collection has been the focus of a number of research thrusts including flora of the Drakensberg alpine region, Streptocarpus (Gesneriaceae), Asteraceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and ferns
Materials of Special Interest
- Premier site for collections of South African macroalgae, housing the largest assemblage of these organisms on the continent.
- Medicinal plant collections by Fr. F. Mayr and A.B. Cunningham are housed together with voucher specimens from recent ethno-and economic botanical investigations.
- Major Collectors : K. Balkwill, M-J. Balkwill, L.R. Bauer, A.J.W. Bayer, F. Bayer, J.S. Beard, J.W. Bews, J.M. Browning, B.L. Burtt, N.C. Chase, D. Edwards, T.J. Edwards, B.S. Fisher, E.E. Galpin, J. Gerstner, K.D. Gordon-Gray, J.S. Henkel, O.M. Hilliard (also collected as O.M. Hillary), B.J. Huntley, K.D. Gordon-Gray (also collected as K.D. Huntley), D.J.B. Killick, E. Moll, E.S. Pooley, E.A. Robinson, J.H. Ross, E.A.C.L.E. Schelpe, H.G.W.J. Schweickert, T.R. Sim, C.H. Stirton, R.G. Strey, W.R. Trauseld, L.D.E.F. Vesey-Fitzgerald, C.J. Ward, J.M. Wood, F.B. Wright.