Summary

The Queensland Herbarium documents the flora, algae and fungal biodiversity of Queensland… a museum for plants! Experience what the scientists do behind the scenes and help us curate our collection of 900,000 specimens and make it accessible to the world.

As an Herbarium Curator Apprentice you will work with Herbarium botanists, curators and technicians as you participate in three key activities that are done every day at the Herbarium.

1. Identify a specimen – what species is it?
   With the help of a botanist, online identification keys and a microscope, you will work in pairs to identify an unknown plant. You will look at key features (e.g. flower colour, leaf venation) of the plant and answer questions to help you find out what it is.
2. Secure the specimen for long term storage
   Identified specimens being added to the Herbarium collection need to be mounted (attached) to archival card, secured with tape and or wire to prevent them from being damaged when they accessed by researchers over time. You will all have a go at attaching the specimen and label, which contains important identifying information.
3. Digitise the collection to make it accessible to the world
   Once specimens are mounted to card you will go up the collections floor where we digitise our collection for sharing with the world. This also helps to preserve the specimens. The specimens are photographed with 100MP camera so you can zoom in to 4 times what you can see with your eye!