README: Type Specimen Catalog of the Herbarium Pacificum (BISH), Bishop Museum
This database includes complete label data for approximately 10,796 botanical type specimens (including fungi) and 1,922 photographs of type specimens conserved in the BISH herbarium. Initial data were compiled under a National Science Foundation grant (BSR8320316) between 1984 and 1987. Data entry, verification, and nomenclatural decisions were made by Peter O'Connor, Donald Gowing, and Jane Medler. The database has been continually updated and expanded since then, principally by the late Walter Appleby, Karin Kami, Fiona Norris, Chris Puttock, and George Staples.
The cutoff date for this update to the botanical Type Specimen Catalog is 18 November 1998. Since the last update (May 1996), approximately 417 new type specimen records have been added and 1,563 existing records have been emended. We appreciate the contributions of Warren L. Wagner and Robynn Shannon, Smithsonian Institution, Department of Botany. Their nomenclatural research has aided our efforts to curate the Hawaiian type specimens.
Approximately half the type specimens in BISH are from the Hawaiian Islands and nearshore marine waters; the remainder are primarily from the Pacific Basin and Southeast Asia in the broad sense.
For information about depositing specimens in the Herbarium Pacificum type collection, or to make inquiries or report corrections, please contact:
Collection Manager for Botany
Herbarium Pacificum
Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice St.
Honolulu, HI 96817
fax: (808) 847-8252