Museum

A well-documented and accurately identified plant collection is essential for learning to know a region’s plants. It enables people to compare specimens they find with specimens identified by experts. Moreover, as a collection grows, it reveals details of where different species grow, information that is important to development of plans for conservation and restoration. The Biodiversity Museum has two plant collections, one of dried plants and the other of living plants. We are sharing information from these collections via OpenHerbarium.org and are developing fact sheets about individual species that will be shared via this web site.

Museum specimens must be correctly identified if they are to be useful. So where does one start? By asking for help from specialists at other museums! So far, we have asked for - and received - help from scientists in six different countries. Everyone we have asked has been very generous with their time and knowledge. Thanks in large part to their help, several species have been added to Somaliland’s known biodiversity, detailed information is being accumulated for species known to be present, and a critical resource for biodiversity research is being developed in Somaliland. On the left, we show some of the individuals who have helped us identify the plants in the collection.