Specimens
1,675
Paul Hermann herbarium
Garcinia gummi-gutta
Hermann's dried plants and drawings from Sri Lanka were one of the first major collections of the botany of the East Indies.
Paul Hermann
Paul Hermann (1646-1695) was Medical Officer to the Dutch East India Company in Sri Lanka between 1672 and 1677.
During this time he collected many plants from the region, particularly the area around Colombo.
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) used the collection when writing Flora Zeylanica (1747) and, later, when assigning Sri Lankan taxa in Species Plantarum (1753). As a result, the collection contains many Linnaean type specimens.
The collection comprises five bound volumes containing:
- pressed plants
- a small number of pressed insects
- a volume of drawings
Looking for a specific specimen?
The collection has been digitised.
Any Questions?
If you would like to use any specimens for research, please get in touch.
Curator
Dr Fred Rumsey
Access to the data
The volumes have also been digitised, and can be accessed via the Museum's Data Portal.
Related information
Collections on the move
Access to some collections will be affected as we prepare for the move to our new collections, science and digitisation centre.
Accessing the collections
Scientists and collections management specialists can visit the collections and borrow specimens for research.
Collections management
Our duty is to provide a safe and secure environment for all of our collections.