Overview
Te Papa's herbarium has about 1% of its botany collection on loan at any one time.
On average, over 1000 specimens are loaned to about 20 institutions worldwide each year.
Botany specimens are loaned mostly for research purposes. The specimens' physical characteristics (morphology), such as petal size, seed shape or leaf length, are measured to determine differences between species and within species.
Analysis of DNA is another tool used by taxonomists to establish species' boundaries. Te Papa herbarium specimens are not routinely collected for DNA purposes, but DNA may be successfully extracted from younger herbarium material.
This involves destroying a small sample of leaf (or similar) tissue. Permission is not allways granted, as it is Te Papa's preference that fresh material be sought for DNA extraction when possible.
Te Papa botany loans enable researchers around the world to study a greater range of specimens within the plant group of interest. This leads to a better understanding of that plant group and a better understanding of our planet's biodiversity.
Sometimes this leads to the description of new plant species!