Visitors

• Prior to visiting the Compton Herbarium researchers are requested to notify the Curator of the dates of the intended visit and brief project details.
• Visitors are requested to report to the secretary when entering the herbarium. You will be required to sign the visitors book daily for the duration of your stay.
• The herbarium will be open from Monday to Friday (08h00 to 16h30) and closed over weekends and public holidays.
• To prevent psoccid infestations all dried incoming material will be kept in the herbarium freezers for at least 48 hours. This rule will not be compromised and untreated material will under no circumstances be allowed into the herbarium.
• Herbarium sheets must be handled with care at all times and should never be laid face down.
• A quick guide is available for visitors who wish to do their own identifications. A handling fee will be levied for each specimen identified should the visitor wish the herbarium staff to render this service. Costing can be obtained from the secretary.
• Visitors are expected to prepare their own specimens. Material left lying around will be discarded.

Facilities

• Library: Visitors are free to use the library but no books or journals may be removed from the herbarium. Photocopying from old and rare books stored in the locked cabinets is not permitted.
• Drying facilities for plant presses are available on a first come first serve basis. All plant presses must be clearly marked with your name before placing them in the drier.
• A photocopier is available for use by visitors. Please settle your account with the Secretary before departing.
• A workbench in the herbarium is available for visitors. The area is equipped with dissecting microscopes, computer and computer-network points. You are requested to keep this area clean and tidy as it is a shared facility.

Materials & Loans

• Plant presses can be rented at R150 per press, consisting of two wooden boards, two straps, 10 corrugated cardboards, and 6 kg drying paper. A deposit of R300 will be levied for each plant press. The weight of the drying paper will be checked when the plant press is returned and the user will be charged for missing paper.
• Flimsies (newsprint) are sold in 25 and 50 sheet packets and do not come with the press.
• A handling fee will be levied should you wish parcels to be wrapped. Official parcels may be sent from the herbarium. Postage costs can be calculated and must be paid to the secretary.
• Loan requests should be made in writing using an official letterhead, which can be e-mailed to the Curator. Once approved the botanist responsible for the family will select material. Only half of the collection will be sent at one time. When the material has been returned the remaining sheets will be made available on request. A set of conditions governing loans will accompany each loan.
• Types will not be sent unless specifically requested. High-resolution images of all the types held in the NBG and SAM collections are available on the African Plants Initiative (API) which can be accessed through the Aluka website (Aluka.com). If there is no need to study the type collections in detail, digital images can be provided.

For a detailed schedule of costs please
contact us.

Collections

The herbarium collections are housed in a modern building built in 1996 in the research complex at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town. The building is situated on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain just below some patches of fine afromontane forest with the mountain towering above it in the background.

The modern cupboards are of metal with magnetic sealed doors. There is filtered, forced-air ventilation -full air-conditioning being too expensive. The specimens are arranged following the system employed in the List of Southern African Plants based on PRECIS There are approximately 750 000 specimens covering mainly the winter-rainfall region of southern Africa, but there are also many valuable old specimens from around the world in SAM.

The collections consist of lycophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms only. The marine algal collections were donated to the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg (NU), the fungi to the National Mycological Herbarium in Pretoria (PREM) and the lichens and bryophytes to our sister herbarium, the National Herbarium in Pretoria (PRE).

For historical reasons the SAM collections, the oldest in the country, are kept separate from the general herbarium and are sent out separately on loan under the SAM label.

History

Founded in 1937 by Prof R.H. Compton, the second director of the National Botanical Gardens, and with the South African Museum Herbarium (SAM) incorporated in 1957 and the Stellenbosch Herbarium (STE) in 1996, the Compton Herbarium is now the second largest herbarium in southern Africa with about 750 000 specimens.

The South African Museum Herbarium (SAM), the oldest in Africa and one of the oldest in the southern hemisphere, originated when the visiting German collector, C.F. Ecklon, deposited 325 of his specimens in the museum in 1825. When the museum was reconstituted in 1855, Dr Ludwig Pappe took charge of the herbarium and is considered to be its founder. He was appointed as the first Colonial Botanist in 1858. On his death in 1863, his private collection, which included Carl Zeyher's main herbarium, was bought for the Cape Government Herbarium, which was housed in the same room as the Museum Herbarium in the Museum. Under Prof Peter MacOwan, as Colonial Botanist, the two collections gradually became merged and considerably increased. In 1910 the Cape Government ceded the so called "Cape Government Herbarium" to the Museum. It was housed from 1956 with the Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch and finally donated by the Trustees of the South African Museum to the National Botanical Institute in 1988.

The Stellenbosch Herbarium (STE) was founded in 1902 by Dr A Vera Duthie on her appointment to the Victoria College (now University of Stellenbosch). Due to lack of funds the University Council decided to hand the general herbarium over to the State and in 1960 it became known as the Governament Herbarium/Staatsherbarium, Stellenbosch. The District Herbarium was retained by the University (STEU). With the amalgamation of the state botanical interests in 1989 it became part of the new National Botanical Institute, but was only able to be combined with the NBG herbarium in 1996.