These pages are intended to help you make more efficient use of the Herbarium Catalogue. Please contact us if you have further questions.
To search the Herbarium Catalogue you can enter text into the text box provided on the Home Page. You can choose to search for this text string in the fields of Family, Scientific Name (Genus and/or Species), Country or Collector. .
The asterisk * can be used as a wildcard at the end of a text string in any free text search field. However you must include at least the first 3 characters of the string.
The basic search will default to searching current names only . If you wish your search to include previous determinations you should choose the 'Advanced Search' option.
To ensure continuous and effective use of the Herbarium Catalogue by all users we currently limit individual queries to a maximum of 10,000 records. If your search criteria match more than 10,000 records we ask that you refine your search
The Advanced Search option allows you to conduct more powerful searches. You can search in additional fields and use a combination of fields. For example you can initiate a search for all type specimens (type radio button) collected in Cameroon (Country field) which are represented by a digital image (image radio button), or for all specimens collected by Kirk (Collector field) in Tanzania (Country field) in 1861 (Collection date field).
To ensure continuous and effective use of the Herbarium Catalogue by all users we currently limit individual queries to a maximum of 10,000 records. If your search criteria match more than 10,000 records we ask that you refine your search
Type specimens (radio button)- Types are specimens which have been consulted for the description of a new taxon name (Genus, Species, Subspecies etc.) and are referred to in the original publication of the name (the protologue). These are some of Kew's most valuable specimens from a botanical perspective.
Specimen images (radio button)- By selecting this option the search will retrieve only those records for which a related specimen image exists. If you would like access to images at a higher resolution than is available through the Herbarium Catalogue, please address your request to the Herbarium digitisation team at Kew stating your needs and any intended use. (herbcat@kew.org).
Current name (radio button)- each specimen at Kew is assigned a current name. This provides an indication of the current taxonomy of the plant as recognised by Kew, and consequently denotes where the specimen is located in the Kew Herbarium. The status of the current name should be interpreted with a degree of caution as taxonomy is subject to continuous review. In order to confirm that the current name assigned in the Kew Herbarium Catalogue is also a currently accepted name amongst the botanical community, it is recommended that you search published checklists for confirmation (Link to Kew Global Checklists). A search on 'all names' will return all records that are currently or have been previously determined under the search name.
Dried and Spirit Collections (radio button)- the vast majority of the specimens held in the Kew Herbarium are preserved in a dry form, usually pressed and mounted on acid-free card. Some bulkier collections (e.g. palms) are dried and stored in archival boxes. A small proportion (approximately 1% - 70,000) are preserved in spirit in order to conserve their 3 dimensional characteristics. While the spirit collection is almost completely catalogued, no images are currently available for these specimens.
Family (free text search)- plant families follow 'Vascular Plant Families and Genera' (Brummitt, 1992 with updates published at http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/data/vascplnt.html).
Scientific name (free text search)- this is made up of the Genus and species names . You can search either on the genus only, the species epithet only or a combination of genus and species name. In the Advanced Search the Scientific name is divided between three component fields: Genus , Species , Infraspecific name .
Country (free text search)- the country in which the specimen was collected. Where an old country name is recorded on the sheet, this has been entered into the Kew database as 'Country on Label'. A search on the Country field will retrieve records exhibiting a match in either the standard Country field or the 'Country on Label' field.
Collector (free text search)- the individual who collected the specimen, or any individual who was present when the collection was made. Collector data is recorded in the form "Surname; Initials", for example "Brenan; J.P.M."
Collector's no. (free text search)- this is the number assigned to a specimen collection by the principal collector. In principle each specimen collection should be assigned a unique Collector & Collector number combination, although different collectors may differ in their practice. For instance collections may be assigned a suffix character (e.g. A or "-2") if one collection number has been used twice in error, or a single collection is later recognised as two distinct collections. The entry 's.n.', meaning 'sine numero', indicates that there is no Collector number recorded on the sheet.
Barcode no. / Spirit Code (free text search)- the barcode number is a unique identification code for each dried specimen record that has been catalogued. The barcodes are pasted to the Herbarium sheets and therefore appear in an associated specimen image. Kew barcodes are 10 characters long, with the letter K followed by 9 digits (e.g. K000242692). A single sheet may contain several barcodes if several independent collections have been mounted together. If a single collection has been mounted on more than one sheet because it is too large for a single sheet, each sheet is assigned a separate barcode . Spirit collections at Kew have not been given barcodes. Instead they are assigned unique identification numbers which are used to identify their physical location in the spirit collection. The Spirit ID numbers take the form of 5 digits, followed by a full stop and three further digits (e.g. 11692.000).
In the results pages you will see a summary of all the records returned as a result of your search. The number of records returned is displayed at the top of the page, as are the total number of pages. Each page of results displays a maximum of 20 records. This page also shows how many different plant families and genera are represented in your search results, along with the number of different countries and the number of type specimens.
It is possible to scroll through the pages of results one by one by clicking on the page numbers. Alternatively you can click the '<' or '>' buttons to jump through the next 10 pages. You can also jump to the first or last page by clicking 'first' or 'last'. Alternatively you can move to a given page by clicking on any of the page numbers currently shown. The display will show which page of records you are on at any given time.
By clicking on a specimen barcode/ID number you will be taken to the details page for that record, which includes information not shown in the summary table, including the determination history and other specimen notes.
Clicking on a camera icon will open a separate browser window displaying the specimen image associated with that record.
It is possible to sort your search results by any one of the fields shown in the summary table, by clicking on the column heading. If you would like to sort by one field followed by another, then you should click them in reverse order. So, for example, if you wish to sort by Collector then Collector number, you should click the 'Collector No.' column heading, followed by the 'Collector' column heading.
From the results page you can dowload summary records into a comma separated file, which can then be opened as a spreadsheet. It is possible to download the results of a single results page (20 records) or a maximum of 1000 records from a single search.
The details page displays full details for a single specimen record. In addition to the search fields, the details include a 'location field' which includes any locality information included on the sheet other than country. Also displayed, when known, are the latitude and longitude of collection, including the accuracy of these data, altitude, type status, phenology, plant parts, Herbarium item, project, habitat, plant description and general comments, .
The determination history table shows all names that have been assigned to a particular specimen. The table may include information on the individual who determined the specimen to that name, the date on which the determination was made and any notes associated with the determination. In addition the final column named 'Type of?' will include a tick if the specimen is known to represent a type of a particular name.
A thumbnail image will be displayed for all records possessing an associated specimen image. By clicking on this thumbnail you will open a new browser window displying a screen-size image of the specimen.
From the details page you are able to download the full specimen details for the record which you have open. These details will download into an comma separated file which can be opened as a spreadsheet.