KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s largest herbarium has opened a new exhibition gallery to showcase its century-old botanical research and heritage preservation.
Sabah Forestry Department’s SAN Herbarium, which houses nearly 300,000 preserved plant specimens representing the state’s rich botanical diversity, opened its gallery at the Forest Research Centre (FRC) in Sepilok.
The opening was officiated by state Conservator of Forests Datuk Zulkifli Suara.
The gallery is aimed at highlighting Sabah’s botanical heritage and important role of herbarium collections in scientific research, biodiversity documentation and conservation, the state Forestry Department said.
The gallery also serves as an educational platform to introduce visitors to the work of botanists and herbarium scientists, including plant identification, documentation of plant species and preservation of scientific specimens.
Set up in 1916, SAN Herbarium is one of Sabah’s most important botanical research facilities and houses the state’s largest herbarium collection.
The herbarium maintains more than 280,000 preserved plant specimens representing Sabah’s rich plant diversity, alongside collections from other parts of Borneo and beyond.
The statement added that scientific collections were valuable references for plant identification, taxonomic research, biodiversity inventories, conservation assessments and documenting plant distribution, the foresters said.
It also provided essential historical records that enabled researchers to study changes in plant diversity and distribution over time, the department stated.
The exhibition gallery is open on weekdays for pre-arranged educational visits by secondary schools and academic institutions.
Public visits can be arranged through the Curator of SAN Herbarium at its website www.sanherbarium.com.
