Current Projects

Current Projects

We are constantly updating and expanding our collections, as well as improving the quality and accessibility of data associated with our specimens. A major modernization that has been underway since 2018 has been imaging our specimens so that the images and associated data are searchable online through Symbiota portals (find links to these portals under the Collections tab). We are 1/3 of the way through this conversion, and our student staff, student interns, and volunteers of all stripes are making this massive effort happen. We are also assisting smaller regional herbaria to get their specimen data and images online. Specimens that have come through the door since 2019 have been imaged and can be searched online. The projects listed below are our current funded acquisition or collaboration projects.

  • African Plants Digitization

  • This project is intended to “virtually repatriate” our African plant specimens from our collection by making them freely available on the web for use by researchers in Africa and the rest of the world. Our Africa holdings are small but interesting, having come from individual research projects or through specimen exchange, such as Grady Webster’s Euphorbiaceae collection. This is part of a larger effort by 21 herbaria across North America funded by the National Science Foundation. This project funds training for two UC Davis undergraduates. 450 specimens have been located, digitized, imaged and shared online as of March 2025.

    Student digitizing plant specimens from Africa.
    Student digitizing plant specimens from Africa.
  • Bodega Marine Reserve

  • In collaboration with Reserve Manager Suzanne Olyarnik and Research Coordinator Jackie Sones, we are digitizing and imaging the Peter G. Connors Herbarium at Bodega Marine Reserve (BMR) Read more about the BMR collection here: https://ucnrs.org/bodega-herbarium-named-to-honor-former-reserve-manager/

    UCD undergraduate De Marie Armijo enters specimen data for a plant collected at the Bodega Marine Lab site.
    UCD undergraduate De Marie Armijo enters specimen data for a plant collected at the Bodega Marine Lab site. Bodega Head is home to a diversity of both terrestrial and marine plants, and the herbarium houses both.
  • California Plant Rescue (CaPR)
  • Details to be added.
  • Lassen Volcanic National Park
  • Details to be added.
  • Mojave Desert
  • This is a Collections Rapid Rescue Grant funded by the State of California and California Institute for Biodiversity. Its intention is to fund acquisition of 2000 specimens collected of the Mojave Desert flora over the past 28 years by UC botanists James M. André and Tasha La Doux, assisted by numerous colleagues.
  • Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forests
  • Details to be added.
  • Tejon Ranch
  •  Details to be added.
  • Yosemite Bryoflora
  • Curatorial assistant transferring mosses.
    Curatorial assistant transferring mosses.