Plant Identification & Botanical Information Service

Plant identification service

Trying to identify plants? Tearing your hair out? Let us help you. We provide a comprehensive plant identification and botanical information service for over-the-counter visitors  (open weekdays 9.30 am to 1 pm) and by fax or mail. We also provide general botanical information including current scientific names of plants and details on the distribution of NSW plants. See Gardening Information for horticultural topics including plant diseases and pests.

Contact us for advice on the best way to prepare your specimens for identification, or read the chapter on collecting specimens in the book Proteaceae of New South Wales or volume 1 of the Flora of New South Wales. We also have a booklet on collecting, preserving and identifying specimens, available from our Garden Shops.

Botanical Information Service (open weekdays 9.30 am to 1 pm)
National Herbarium of NSW
Botanic Gardens Trust
Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney 2000
Fax 02-9251 1952

• Urgent ID inquiries (e.g. poisonous plants): phone 9231 8111
• Poisons Information Centre: phone 131126
• Police inquiries over the counter 11 am-midday Mon-Fri
• Private consultant for identifying roots (blocking drains) and wood: John Ford, phone 0400 571 251 or email john.ford13@hotmail.com

Prices

Free identifications for up to six (6) specimens (or two hours' work) per year for members of the public, Friends of The Gardens and Trust Volunteers, after which commercial rates apply - however, please restrict your enquiry to no more than 12 specimens at any one time:

• Minimum charge: Over the Counter $16.50 , Mail $33.00
• Plant Identifications: $16.50 per specimen, $8.25 partial identification of confirmation
• Identifications referred to specialist botanist:  $33.00 per specimen
• Data provision: $55.00 (small search). $110.00 (large search) plus $1.10 per specimen record
• Consulting fee: $130-$200/hour depending on the complexity of the job

(All charges include GST)

Note: inquirers with new, important or quality specimen(s) that we can add to the Herbarium collection, will not incur a fee for identification of the specimen(s).

Public Reference Collection

Interested in identifying plants for yourself? This collection of pressed plants is available 9 am-4 pm Mon-Fri for you to identify your own plant collections by comparison with authenticated herbarium vouchers. A microscope and reference books are available, and we can also provide assistance with using the collection. The Public Reference Collection provides an educational resource that increases botanical knowledge and plant identification skills within the community.

Flora of New South Wales

This four-volume Flora of New South Wales helps both amateur and professional botanists to identify plant species that occur in New South Wales - both native and naturalised - and to be informed of their distribution within the State.

Botanical Information Service

Barbara Wiecek, Botanist & Andrew Orme, Technical Officer

The Botanical Information Service (BIS) provides plant identification information to the general public, government departments and to ecological consultants for a fee. We provide botanical advice, including poisons information to veterinarians and the medical profession. We answered 3399 enquiries last year (over the counter, mail, email and telephone). We completed nearly 90% of these within 7 days (our target is 70% in under 7 days). BIS staff are always on the lookout for significant plant specimens to be incorporated into our Herbarium. We retained 320 specimens for priority processing this financial year and 208 specimens of general interest. Many of these were requested by botanists researching particular families or groups of plants. We retained 30 specimens of endangered species, 61 of vulnerable species, 17 rarely collected species, 42 extensions of range and a number of garden escapes which add to the known distribution of these species.

It is important to monitor garden escapes as they may become invasive weeds. We noted the following new weed records for the state: Fatoua villosa (September 2007) - Hairy Crabweed, native to China in the mulberry family; Corrigiola littoralis (August 2007) - Strapwort, native to Europe, in the carnation family; Flacourtia jangomas (July 2007) - Indian plum/cherry, native to South-East Asia, in the family Flacourtiaceae; and Acokanthera oblongifolia (November 2007) - Bushmans Poison, native to South Africa, in the periwinkle family.  Alert List weeds included Pereskia aculeata - Barbados Gooseberry in the cactus family, and a Lagarosiphon species - a water plant in the Swamp Lily family from southern Africa. Another possible source of weeds is florist plants and we noted a species we had not seen before from South Africa in one enquiry. A new species for Australia, formerly known only from NewZealand, Plantago triandra - Starweed, in the plantain family was identified from a Victorian site.

A new species of Pterostylis, a native greenhood orchid, was identified in April 2008. We also retained a number of unusual forms of some species. These unusual forms may be part of the variation in a species or the result of unusual environmental conditions including spraying with herbicides. Also included were rare or unusual hybrids and intermediate forms which may form part of future study, a number of newly described species and new unassigned taxa for NSW (e.g. a grass whose origin has not yet been determined and which probably already has a name).

Acokanthera oblongifolia (Bushmans Poison) is still used in its native home of South Africa by the Bushman as a poison to cover the tips of arrows for hunting. Click here for more information.

Fatoua villosa (Thunb.) Nakai Hairy Crabweed Larry Allain @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database .