Herbarium Facilities

The Southern Cape Herbarium is situated in the Moriarty Environmental Centre at 49 Caledon Street, George, South Africa next to the Garden Route Botanical Garden.

Main herbarium

The main research Herbarium is not open to the public. It houses a growing collection of
10 000+ pressed and named plant specimens from the region, which are organized in the “De la Torre & Harm’s”  system to national and international standards. Access must be arranged with the present curator.

In addition, the Herbarium houses three special collections to assist identification by matching live material or pressed plant specimens to named specimens:

• A complete collection of Audrey Moriarty’s illustrated plant specimens as described in her Outeniqua, Tsitsikamma & Eastern Little Karoo (Botanical Society publication No 2) totalling about 500.
• Gerhard Kirsten's collection of Ericas made for Ericas of Southern Africa which he co-authored with Dolf Schuman and Ted Oliver, and his collection of reference books and keys on Ericas.
• The collection of David Shearing's specimens from his Flora Karoo (Botanical Society publication No 6) as well as many more.
• An easily accessible data-base comprising thousands of plant images from the area filed in taxonomic order is also being digitised.

Quick Guide

The Quick Guide uses a simplified classification system to help identify plants quickly. More than 2000 specimens are stored in this section of the Herbarium. The Quick Guide is open to the public under the supervision of a Herbarium staff member or volunteer.

Botanical Library

The comprehensive Botanical Library is open to the public on Tuesday mornings. The collection may only be consulted for research purposes.