The Sarawak Herbarium, Department of Forestry

SAR

Active

The Sarawak Herbarium, one of the biggest herbarium in Malaysia, was established in March 1961 with the transfer of herbarium specimens from the Sarawak Museum. It keeps an authentic record of the dried plant specimens collected through the years, and serves as a major botanical reference centre for both local and foreign researchers, and the public. The Sarawak Herbarium is housing approximately 250,000 plant specimens from Sarawak and from all over the world. The plants collection includes tree, shrubs, herbs, ferns, palms, orchids and mosses. The oldest specimen kept in the Sarawak Herbarium was collected by Haviland in May 1890, Cyanandrium rufum Stapf. ex Hk. from the family Melastomataceae. To date, there are 267 family, 1775 genus and 11,145 species recorded in the database. The herbarium is also housing approximately 700 TYPE specimens. Type specimens are the original specimens on which new species descriptions have been based. The Sarawak Herbarium at the Forest Research Centre, is about 10 km from Kuching city and can be reached by public transport or taxi