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Van Steenis Gebouw
Visitors address:
Einsteinweg 2
2333 CC Leiden
Postal address:
P.O. Box 9514
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Telephone: 31 71 5273500
Fax: 31 71 5273511
e-mail: Surname@nhn.leidenuniv.nl
(e.g. Smets@nhn.leidenuniv.nl)
Secretariat:
dewolf@nhn.leidenuniv.nl
Herbarium |
Library |
|
Weekdays |
7.45 - 18.45 | 8.15 - 12.30 and 13.00 - 16.45 |
Saturdays, Sundays |
closed | closed |
8 February from 12.30 hrs
3 October
From Christmas eve until the first working day of the new year.
The research programme of the NHN-Leiden is geographically focused on the plant world of Malesia and Europe (especially the Netherlands), and, in order to derive optimal returns from its extensive and unique collections, aims at a broad coverage of plant groups (i.e., those organisms covered by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature): algae, fungi, mosses, ferns and flowering plants. Apart from a critical, taxonomic inventory of the botanical diversity, fundamental aspects of plant systematics and historical biogeography are pursued by exploring special character complexes such as pollen morphology, wood and leaf anatomy, ultrastructural cytology, and, in association with partner institutes, DNA sequences.
The NHN-Leiden collaborates closely with the Hortus Botanicus Leiden. Actual information (in Dutch) is avaliable from the Hortus website.
The institute is divided into two research groups:
The vegetation in the Netherlands is strongly influenced by man. By monitoring changes in the floristic composition the effects of human activities on plant growth can be assessed. From 1989 onwards FLORON (Foundation for floristic research in the Netherlands) stimulates and coordinates the inventory work by hundreds of Dutch bona fide amateur botanists. Each year, hundreds of thousands of records are checked and incorporated in the files at the National Bureau housed in the NHN-Leiden. These data are then available for research and conservation of flora and vegetation. FLORON receives its finance from three ministries. Jointly with the NHN-Leiden, FLORON moreover manages the databases FLORBASE, with over 5 million records from after 1975, and FLORIVON with distribution data from the period 1900--1950. Both databases are used in nature conservation and environmental studies. They are of great importance for the Red List of over 500 species that have become extinct in the Netherlands or have to be considered endangered species.
More information about Floron is available on the Floron-website (in Dutch)
Currently 20 PhD projects are supervised at the NHN-Leiden, 6 with university funding, 7 with NWO funding, the remainder by various other funding agencies. PhD courses are taught jointly with partners in the National Research School 'Biodiversity'.
Biodiversity offers a rich source for a sustainable exploitation of the natural resources in the world, e.g. for development of various fine chemicals such as drugs. Leiden University offers several MSc courses which aim at teaching the students knowledge of the disciplines involved in the exploration and exploitation of biodiversity. These courses are for students with a degree in chemistry, biochemistry, biology or pharmacy.
The NHN-Leiden offers basic courses in the Biology curriculum: survey of the plant kingdoms, biodiversity and pattern analysis, field excursions and specialised courses in Economic Botany, Southeast Asiatic Plant families, phycology, mycology, palynology, tropical flora, etc. A wide range of MSc research projects can be carried out in all the research groups. A booklet with details of some of the possibilities is available here.
The NHN-Leiden edits and publishes the following, externally refereed journals and series:
The herbarium of NHN-Leiden (L) is the largest herbarium in the Netherlands. It ranks as one of the 5 largest herbaria in Europe, and among the 10 largest in the world.
The collection consists of
The annual increment is 25 000 to 30 000 specimens. To protect the dried collection from insect and fungal damage, every 1.5 years all plants are deep frozen for 48 hours at - 30 Celsius.
The material originates from all parts of the world, but there is a heavy emphasis on The Netherlands and Europe (30 %) and Southeast Asia, in particular Malesia (60%).
Apart from the ordinary collections, the Herbarium houses a number of collections of special interest:
Various parts of the collection are of special historical interest. Notable historical collections include the herbariums made by:
Since 1996, significant parts of the collection, including types, and historical collections are being digitized, databased and made available through the Virtual Herbarium of the Netherlands.
Last modified donderdag, mei 14, 2009 by P. Hovenkamp.