Do herbarium specimens collected by Banks and Solander during Cook's voyage around New Zealand in 1769-70 contain DNA?

Tuhinga 31: 113-119

ABSTRACT: The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) holds a large number of pre-1900 herbarium specimens, including more than 500 collected by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during Captain James Cook’s first voyage to New Zealand in 1769–70. Recent advances in genetic technologies have shown that DNA can be obtained from old herbarium specimens. However, our attempts to do so from pre-1900 specimens at Te Papa have had mixed results. Here, we test whether DNA is still present in seven well-preserved Banks and Solander herbarium specimens from six families. We were able to successfully retrieve a DNA sequence from only one specimen, native pellitory (Parietaria debilis, Urticaceae). Therefore, we recommend caution in approving requests to genetically sample Banks and Solander herbarium specimens.

KEYWORDS: ancient plant DNA, Daniel Solander, DNA, herbarium, Joseph Banks, Parietaria.