A grant has been awarded to Duke University under the direction of Dr. Kathleen Pryer to re-house the herbarium in new cabinets mounted on a mobile storage system. The vascular plant herbarium is currently housed off-site and will be soon re-located to a new facility on campus, with better temperature and humidity control, close by to the Biology Department. The collection is one of the largest from the southeastern United States and has many important specimens from North America and Central America. The new storage facilities and building will allow improved access to the collection by faculty and student researchers. An online database of information on the type specimens will also be constructed, which will make these specimens associated with new species descriptions available to a wide community. The collections are used in teaching, and the new facilities will enhance opportunities for use of the herbarium in coursework.
