HPU hosted researchers from the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) and The University of Texas at Austin (UT) for a workday to digitize dried plant specimens housed in the HPU herbarium. More than 3,800 specimens were digitized.

(IN THE GROUP PHOTO:  Participants in HPU’s recent herbarium workday included researchers from BRIT, HPU and UT. Pictured are (back row, from left) Glenn Butler, Dr. George Yatskievych; (middle row, from left) Kimberlie Sasan, Ana Niño, Erin Flinchbaugh, Ashley Bales, Dr. Marilyn Mathis; (front row, from left) Lauren Hoff and Tiana Rehman.)

The HPU herbarium was founded in 1965 and is a part of the Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH). Instrumental in the development of the herbarium was the late Dr. Jack Stanford, longtime professor of biology and former chair of HPU’s Department of Biological Sciences, who significantly increased the collection. The university’s herbarium currently includes approximately 30,000 specimens and is notable for its assortment of ferns.

BRIT, founded in 1987 and now affiliated with Fort Worth Botanic Garden, facilitates research with an emphasis in discovery, documentation and dissemination. The organization has a research, education and conservation center as well as a 1.5 million-specimen herbarium. For more information about BRIT and Fort Worth Botanic Garden, visit www.fwbg.org.

The digitization process requires imaging the specimens, transcribing each specimen’s information and barcoding the specimens to associate each physical specimen with its digital information for easy identification. This process allows the specimen to be accessed online by researchers all over the world. On this particular workday, the primary work completed was barcoding specimens.

HPU’s coordinator for this event was Dr. Marilyn Mathis. Since retiring from her position as associate professor of biology in 2017, she has continued to serve the university through volunteering as herbarium curator as well as working as an adjunct professor of biology since 2020.

Dr. Mathis noted BRIT’s history of partnership with HPU.

“BRIT wanted to honor Dr. Stanford by helping to preserve this collection,” said Dr. Mathis. “He had an ongoing collaboration with BRIT.”

Joining Dr. Mathis in coordinating the workday was Dr. George Yatskievych, curator of UT’s Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center and BRIT research associate. Also from UT was Lauren Hoff, assistant curator at the plant resources center. Participants from BRIT included Tiana Franklin Rehman, director of the herbarium at BRIT; Ashley Bales, herbarium collections manager at BRIT; Erin Flinchbaugh, research administrative assistant at BRIT; Ana Niño, BRIT librarian; Kimberlie Sasan, herbarium and research assistant at BRIT; and Glenn Butler, BRIT volunteer.

Dr. Kristen Hutchins, dean of the School of Science and Mathematics and professor of biology, expressed her appreciation for the work provided by all involved as well as the spirit of cooperation.

“What an incredible team effort! We are grateful to the Botanical Research Institute of Texas and The University of Texas for their partnership in making these specimens available to the global scientific community,” said Dr. Hutchins. “Dr. Mathis has diligently worked on this project for the last few years, providing excellent training opportunities for our biology students interested in conservation biology. This project honors Dr. Stanford as well as our biology alumni who have contributed to this collection for decades.”

Ashley Bales of BRIT adds barcodes to plant samples.

For more information about HPU, visit www.hputx.edu.