Selmar Schonland Herbarium Marine Algae Collection

The Selmar Schonland Herbarium (GRA) was formed in 1993 by the amalgamation of the Albany Museum Herbarium (GRA) and the Rhodes University Herbarium (RUH). It is named in honour of the distinguished botanist, Selmar Schonland, who did much to establish botany in South Africa, at Rhodes University and the botanical collections of the Albany Museum in the late 19th century. The herbarium is affiliated to Rhodes University Department of Botany and the Albany Museum.

Today the herbarium houses approximately 200 000 plant specimens, making it the 4th largest herbarium in South Africa and the 9th largest on the whole African continent. Taxonomic coverage is broad, and although the majority of specimens are Angiosperms, the herbarium has a very large collection of marine algae based on M.A. Pocock's work. Geographically GRA focuses on the flora of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, although collections from most parts of southern Africa are also available, including the Jacot-Guillarmod Lesotho material. The herbarium also has a limited number of specimens from other regions of Africa and other continents. Collections of several historically important collections include Burchell, Ecklon, Flanagan, Galpin, MacOwan, Pappe, Pegler, Rogers, Schlechter, Sim and Zeyher. Thanks to Schonland’s early exchange programmes the herbarium is exceptionally rich in type specimens.