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Bolus Herbarium (BOL)

The Bolus Herbarium, established in 1865, is the oldest functioning herbarium in South Africa. As part of an academic institution its primary function is to aid in the teaching and research of the diversity of the southern African flora, particularly that of the Cape Floristic Region. Research associated with the herbarium focuses mainly on taxonomy, systematics, biogeography and endemism. With a collection of over 350,000 specimens, it is the third largest herbarium in South Africa and the third largest university Herbarium in the southern Hemisphere. The collection is recognized for its superb representation of the Cape Flora and the large number of type specimens housed.

Curator: Cornelia Klak, boluscurator@uct.ac.za, +27 21 650 3724
Collection Type: Preserved Specimens
Management: Live Data managed directly within data portal
Global Unique Identifier: 3c70a0d0-cbc7-4923-a1cd-3b4957489cc9
Digital Metadata: EML File
Usage Rights: CC BY (Attribution)
Rights Holder: University of Cape Town
Collection Statistics
  • 239,960 specimen records
  • 78,309 (33%) georeferenced
  • 58,507 (24%) with images (59,128 total images)
  • 215,496 (90%) identified to species
  • 618 families
  • 3,151 genera
  • 21,070 species
  • 23,755 total taxa (including subsp. and var.)
Extra Statistics
Geographic Distribution
Click on the specimen record counts within the parenthesis to return the records for that term