University of Virgin Islands Herbarium (UVI-VIST)

The Herbarium at the St. Thomas CES office houses collections of preserved plant specimens from the USVI, collected primarily by scientists from the Smithsonian Institute and the New York Botanical Garden. The National Park Service Biosphere on St. John houses similar collections. Additional collections by local botanists are stored in the St. Croix CES office. Plant specimens are dried, mounted and labeled on 100% non-acid rag paper that does not deteriorate like wood pulp paper. These Herbaria contain collections of extremely rare and endangered plants that could be devastated by land clearing during construction activities or by hurricanes or droughts. Herbarium information about the status of these rare plants, including where they were collected can help scientists monitor this rapidly changing Caribbean region and can also help home owners and land-use planners avoid the destruction of important rare plants and their habitats.

UVI-CES, with the help of students and volunteers, is in the process of computerizing information relating to over 2,500 plant specimens in the St. Thomas Herbarium to enable data to be readily accessible to Internet users. Founded in 1978. R. O. Woodbury, J. M. Matuszak, G. T. Prance, F. R. Fosberg, J. Earhart, P. Acevedo, K. Teare, F. Grifo, and S. A. Mori. Taxonomic Coverage: Economic plants; traditional medicinal plants; native ornamentals; endangered species; mosses; algae; Poaceae.

Contact: Toni Thomas, Program Leader (tthomas2@uvi.edu)

Home Page: https://sites.google.com/a/myuvi.net/ccam/home/about-uvi-ccam/uvi-ccam-plant-conservation-documentation-team-1

Collection Type: Preserved Specimens

Management: Data snapshot of local collection database

Digital Metadata: EML File

Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial)

Rights Holder: University of the Virgin Islands.

Access Rights: Public Domain

• 1,673 specimen records
• 0 georeferenced
• 1,359 (81%) identified to species
• 141 families
• 359 genera
• 582 species
• 590 total taxa (including subsp. and var.)