Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
República de Panamá
Panama
Mireya D. Correa A., M.A.
Email: corream@si.edu
In July 1965, the Army Tropical Test Center (ATTC) of the United States were assigned several laboratories facilities to work in projects to determine characteristics of a tropic forest environment, and how this environment affects metal objects in general. A dried, plant reference collection from different study areas was initiated in these installations.
Years later, the Division of Community Services of the Panama Canal Company, together with the Missouri Botanical Gardens, represented by Walter H. Lewis, decided to create the Summit Herbarium. This initiative received the support of George Gauger from the ATTC and Edwin Tyson from Florida State University. The Summit Canal Zone Herbarium (SCZ) was officially founded in 1968, and its began operations in Summit Gardens (close to the town of Gamboa), known today as ‘El Parque Municipal Summit.’
In the 1980’s, the SCZ Herbarium was moved to the Tivoli building at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Ancon, and in 1990, the Institute assigned space in its new installations, the Tupper Building, where it is currently located.
The SCZ herbarium is a reference collection, primarily of vascular plants of Panama. Currently it has 15,603 specimens, including 223 nomenclature types.