The Virtual Herbarium  allows Internet users to see specimens and read relevant information about native plants and weeds in a free, easy-to-use database.

The specimens are stored in the CSU Regional Herbarium on the University’s awarding-winning Thurgoona Campus near Albury, which is also home to CSU’s School of Environmental & Information Sciences. The web site was developed by Herbarium staff.

The Herbarium database houses information for over 3 400 specimens, with over 2 000 high quality images of plant specimens. Handy information on the distribution, ecology and propagation of many species can be accessed from online versions of the Native Vegetation Guide for the Riverina and the South West Slopes Revegetation Guide, which are part of the Virtual Herbarium.

“The CSU Virtual Herbarium is an exciting development that provides a wealth of free information to the general public. The Virtual Herbarium will help farmers and other land mangers to identify plant species and to learn more about native plants and weeds in the region,” said CSU Herbarium Officer Kylie Kent.

Apart from expanding the existing collection, the CSU Herbarium staff aim to develop more online tools to help farmers, natural resource managers and the community to better manage native vegetation in the Basin.