Internal Arragement

1. The herbarium is a consultation and scientific reference site. Its main mission is to achieve the herborization of the vascular plant diversity of Baja California Sur, the Peninsula of Baja California, and the northwestern part of the country. It is registered in the Index Herbariorum under the acronym HCIB .

Taxonomically, the herbarium is divided in three groups: Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, and ferns and those related. The heritage is organized in families in alphabetical order. Within families, genera is also in alphabetical order, and within genera, species is in alphabetical order too.

The herbarium unit is constituted by the specimen, characterized by a vascular plant individual or representative fragment, duly dehydrated, mounted in a Bristol card of 110 kg, whose dimensions are 11i x 16i inches, together with an information tag.

Notes on the families occupying each shelf of each piece of furniture can be seen easily. Each folder has only one genus, and the specimens identified are alphabetically ordered according to the species name. No more than 10 specimens are contained in each folder. In the case of genera that require more than one folder, these are numbered and have the name of the respective genus and specific names it comprises in the lower right hand corner.

2. The HCIB herbarium is constituted by the collection of botanized material, a database which backs up the first one, a collection of photographs of plant species, equipment, furniture, and a bibliographical collection .

The database has taxonomical, geographic, and collection information for each of the specimens brought to the herbarium. This database is made in Excel. Once each specimen is duly identified, the corresponding tags and their duplicates are made. After their identification, each specimen is numbered and captured, and placed in the collection. The identified specimens up to genus are inserted at the end of the corresponding folder in the same genus. The identified specimens up to family are not incorporated.

The specimens already inserted, which for any reason deteriorate, are canceled in the database deleting the corresponding folio number, and which is not used again.

Mounting the specimens is done by traditional procedures with liquid glue, glued paper, or cotton thread, depending on each specimen. In some cases (for example, specimens loose their characteristics when dried, pressed, or when their anatomical characteristics are too big to be represented in a card), specimens can then be substituted or supported by color or black and white pictures.

Duplicate specimens are stored in newspaper with their respective tag in cardboard boxes to proceed to an exchange when required.

3. The HCIB herbarium has a responsible researcher or curator who takes care of the aspects related to duplicate exchange, collection and research permits from the respective authorities, as well as with those related to conservation of the collections, of databases, equipment and bibliographic works.

The responsible researcher organizes consecutive formats for specimen exchange, requests the customs, postal, and phytosanitary permits required, and helps different visitors and consultants .

Consulting the herbarium heritage

4. The HCIB herbarium can lend services related to the information it holds. It can also lend material to other national and international herbariums with the condition that they are formally established (registered in the Index Herbariorum). This service should be done through an explicit loan application made to the herbarium curator requiring the samples or material including the maximum loan period, which should not exceed more than 2 years, without extension. The return shipment shall contain all the material loaned. These points are signaled in the respective Exchange Format .

In the herbarium, the material under loan is signposted in the corresponding location. The signposting is a note with the name of the person to whom the material was loaned, date when the material was borrowed, and date when it should be returned .

5. Persons interested in obtaining information should address the responsible researcher of the herbarium, who shall facilitate consultancy by providing information on the structure of the herbarium, and should sign the corresponding visitor’s book .

6. Consultancy hours shall be those indicated as working hours of the staff who works there. Special conditions can be agreed on with the responsible researcher .

Specimen exchange

7. The herbarium has grown based on collection work from CIBNOR personnel, but collection can also be done at the same time through exchange agreements with other collections in the country and abroad.  Specimens to be received as exchange shall always show the respective tag with the geographic information and the collector. The specimens shall be in acceptable conditions of conservation .

8. The preservation of specimens for the herbarium is based on the method of freezing the material for at least 72 hrs. These method has proven to be, for our particular conditions, the most adequate to avoid proliferation of insects that consume dry plant and seed material. All that material for exchange and consultation shall thoroughly comply with this measure. Independently of the measures taken before entering the herbarium, the material already incorporated is subjected to a freezing process at least two times a year. Other measures are fumigation with chemical agents at least once a year and traps glued with pheronomes .

9. The type specimens are found in a special piece of furniture. These specimens can be consulted in the schedule mentioned above. They are not subject to loan, only consultancy .

Exchange applications and information with Dr. José Luis León de la Luz, HCIB Herbarium Curator.