ALGU - UAlg Herbarium

What is a Herbarium?

It is a semi-public space that should serve society in general, teaching and research. Both the plants themselves and the information associated with each specimen are used for educational purposes, and are also used in scientific studies (evolutionary, taxonomic, ecological, biogeographic, ethnobotanical, biological diversity and environmental recovery).
A general purpose of a herbarium is to:

• Collect botanical specimens and organise the information of each specimen (place of collection, characteristics, etc.) in a scientific and dynamic database;
• Preserve classification and identification material and voucher specimens that constitute “testimony” material of results published in different scientific studies (ecological, chemical, molecular, pharmaceutical, etc.).

Brief History of the Herbarium of the University of Algarve

• 1984: The Antunes Guerra Collection was acquired by the first Rector of the University of Algarve, Prof. Manuel Gomes Guerreiro, with help from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In the following years, José Pedro Simões, Maria Manuela David and Filomena Fonseca collaborated in several attempts to set up the herbarium.
• 2006 - Installation in the current building, building 8 of the Gambelas Campus.
• 2 July 2008, the Herbarium of the University of Algarve was registered with the acronym ALGU in the Index Herbariorum in New York.

THE ALGU
The herbarium has about:

• 15,000 vascular plants mainly from Portugal, but it also has specimens from other countries on several continents.
• 11,100 seaweeds from the Portuguese coast.

Collection curators:

Tracheophytes - Maria Manuela David
Seaweed - Rui Orlando Pimenta Santos

Some collectors and identifiers:

Joaquim Antunes Guerra Collection: C. Antunes, M. Beliz, M. Castro, S. Castroviejo, B. de Retz, HJ Diéz, J. Dóstal, J. Duvigneaud, EF Galiano, J.A. Guerra, N. Jacobsen, P. Montserrat, R. Morales, JA Pereira, H. Piekás, F. Raimundo, V. Rasteller, Ricceri C., E. Rico, FA Soares, B. Valdés, AS Zubizarreta, (et al.)
Rosa Pinto Collection: JR Pinto.
Seaweed Collection: AR Almeida, E. Berecibar, A. Cunha P. Neves, R. Santos, J. Silva, A. Tavares.