HERBARIUM
The Herbarium of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Lúrio is a physical space created within the University Campus of Pemba, where physical and digital exsiccates of species of plants native to Mozambique are collected and conserved, with the aim of supporting their identification in research work related to plant diversity in the region. The idea was conceived and materialized in 2017 by Marcelino Caravela, a professor in the Botany department of the same Faculty. Currently the herbarium has exsiccates of approximately 500 plant species and over 1500 duplicates, native to the province of Cabo Delgado. The building of the herbarium is supported by a team that includes professors, researchers, and students from the Licentiate’s Degree Program in Biological Sciences at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Lúrio University, in partnership with a team of Botanists from Quirimbas National Park and Gorongosa National Park.
In 2018, a fund was approved to build a root herbarium, where all specimens currently present in the herbarium will be relocated, to the new building that is part of the financing of the African Development Bank laboratories, which will be fully operational by mid-2022.
By then, a large database of plant specimens, taxonomic review, study of flora and associated habitats, morphological analysis, pollen extraction, phytosociological and ethnobotanical information will be very advanced.
Students from the area of plant taxonomy, researchers and curators of other herbaria allowed to exchange duplicates with other related institutions should participate in herbarium investigations.