The Arizona State University Herbarium contains approximately 185,000 preserved plant specimens. It is one of the largest herbaria in the Southwest and is especially rich in general collections of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The specimens in the Herbarium comprise a vital resource for anyone interested in the systematics, ecology or conservation of the native vegetation of the Southwest, and its holdings of cacti and lichens are of international importance. Over the last 20 years, the collection has grown very rapidly and a large backlog of specimens has accumulated. The cabinets that contain the collection are also at or near capacity and would be unable to contain the backlog of approximately 40,000 vascular plants, 25,000 lichens and 1,000 fossils that need to be processed and accessioned into the collection. This project will provide funds to purchase standard herbarium, lichen and fossil cabinets to contain the backlogged specimens, as well salary for two part-time undergraduates to help in eliminating the backlog. During the three-year duration of the project, the herbarium will: 1) process all new vascular plant specimens; 2) reduce the backlog of vascular plants by 40%; 3) accession the entire backlog of fossils into the collection; 4) prepare all the partially processed lichen packets for accessioning and exchange with other herbaria. These activities will make the Arizona State University Herbarium a much more valuable and readily available resource.
