Depositing Specimens

New acquisitions result primarily from non-profit agency staff collections, exchange programs with other herbaria, gifts from native plant enthusiasts, and faculty, staff and student collections.

Our focus is to accession vascular plants, mosses, lichens and fungi from New Mexico and surrounding southwestern states and northern Mexico. We have an on-going exchange program with several southwestern herbaria.

Due to limited specimen processing resources, specimens submitted for accessioning in the University of New Mexico Herbarium should meet the criteria detailed as follows. If you have any questions, please contact the Collection Manager. 

• Be well-prepared, with sufficient material to occupy a standard herbarium sheet (unless rarity dictates otherwise). Extraneous plants and dirt should be removed (note associates and substrate on label if relevant, not as part of the specimen!).
• Possess fertile structures and/or other critical identifying features appropriate to the plant group.
• Be accompanied by ready-to-mount labels (permanent ink on acid free paper) with complete label data.
• Preferably be entered into seinet OR into a digital spreadsheet. See our label data skeleton spreadsheet for minimum label data requirements.  
• Contain copy of a collection permit.

Our Curator is also especially interested in alpine plants worldwide, and our Collections Managaer is interested in ferns and fern allies from the southwest and worldwide. In addition, we particularly desire obtaining:

• Uncommon or otherwise interesting plants from New Mexico. This includes range extensions, material from under-collected areas, notable weeds, and significant recollections or similar vouchers.
• Collections from the southwestern United States, especially if uncommon or otherwise interesting.
• Specimens from Mexico.
• Alpine collections, particularly from the Rocky mountains, and worldwide.
• Ferns and fern allies worldwide.
• Cultivated material only if the locality of the wild source population is indicated and falls within the above criteria.

(Modified from the UC-Jeps Herbaria policy on donating specimens).