Question

The largest herbarium of the world is located in
A) Royal botanical garden,Kew
B) Central National Herbarium,Shibpur
C) Museum of Natural History,Paris
D) Madras Herbarium,Coimbatore

Answer 1

Hint: Herbarium is a series of preserved specimens of plants or fungi. Many Herbaria were developed throughout Europe in the 1600s, during the period of discovery, when botanical gardens were no longer able to maintain the living collections of all known species and so the conservation and storage of specimens became common practise.

Complete Answer:
- Herbarium specimens include plants, conifers, ferns, mosses, liverworts and algae, as well as fungi and lichens. Many plant specimens are dried by pressing, while bulkier plants and most fungi are dried without pressing and stored in boxes.
- Pressed specimens may be placed on archival sheets or packed in boxes, as is the case for most of the material in the Arthur Fungarium, for example.
- The world's largest herbarium is housed in the Royal Botanical Garden. It is a 326-acre site in Kew with 40 historic buildings; it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 3 July 2003.

The correct answer is option (a) Royal Botanical Garden, Kew.

Note: Herbarium is an important resource for Plant Biologists, Ecologists and Global Change Researchers working with these research collections of pressed, dried, carefully labelled and graded plant specimens. These herbarium specimens serve as reference points for plant identification and for recording plant locations, climate, abundance and flowering / fruiting times. Herbarium is a library of plant specimens that are borrowed and shared ('exchanged') with other herbariums worldwide.