The University of North Georgia Herbarium: Preserving the Flora of North Georgia for Conservation and Teaching Purposes

Maintaining a teaching collection of plant and animal specimens is crucial for learning within the biological sciences. The University of North Georgia is curating a botanical teaching collection for use within the classroom as well as for the public via online access. The herbarium project began in 2018 and currently has over 2,000 specimens, with more being processed each week. First, a plant is collected along with its supporting data, including the date, location, collector, and its habitat and associations. Then, the plant is pressed, glued to acid-free paper, and the data is entered into the database. A formal label is made, and the plant is photographed to be later added to the online collection. These specimens can be used for recording locations of rare and threatened plants, documenting biodiversity, understanding biogeographical trends, and conservation. DNA can also be extracted from dry specimens as needed, which can be used for taxonomic revisions, population genetics, and functional genomics. The University of North Georgia specializes in the curation of a collection of native and invasive specimens found in northeastern Georgia. The flora of this region of the country is greatly under described and poorly documented and disseminated. Our documentation will help to fill this knowledge gap by making this information accessible to everyone.