Cairo University Herbarium (CAI): history of an outstanding centre of information

In 1925, Egypt established its first Faculty of science as a part of the Egyptian University (now Cairo University). Gunnar Täckholm was invited to be the first professor of Botany in this new Faculty. In summer, he married Vivi Laurent, who joined him to Egypt in 1926.

The Täckholms spent the following academic years (1927-29) working together with some Egyptian colleagues with the aim of establishing the Department of Botany and its Herbarium.  Together they made several expeditions to various parts of the country. Their collections during that period served as the nucleus of this Herbarium.

Index Herbariorum (ed.8: 99, 1990) reported 1926 as the starting year of this Herbarium. The earliest collection, however, date back to 1927 which is regarded as the foundation of Cairo University Herbarium.

Our herbaria hold an historical record of over two hundred years of changes to our vegetation-unparalleled data for conservation and revegetation work, and a permanent reference collection to monitor changes in plant names. It is the only regional plant information system based on scientifically verifiable voucher specimens, maintained by herbaria to ensure the currency of names as knowledge improves.  

Among the valuable historical records, the following can be mentioned:

·         Collections of Hérbarium G. Maire (1928) that comprising valuable accessions, mainly from the Mediterranean costal land,

·         Collections of Gunnar Täckholm (1929) to Gebel Elba district, which represent the earliest from this area in the Herbarium,

·         Collections of pioneer Egyptian botanists (1930-1948) to many localities, which are now disappeared and replaced by new settlements near Cairo,

·         Notable collections from places visited by Vivi Täckholm in Kharga and Dakhla Oases (1952), and the Wadis dissecting the Galala Mountains (1954) and those of South Sinai Mountains (1956),

·         Valuable collections of the UNESCO project (1959-64) which aimed to survey the natural vegetation of Egypt,

·         Important historical plant collections from the southern reaches of the Nile Valley (1961-1962) preceded the inundation of the Abu Simbel area with the waters of the Lake of the Aswan High Dam,

·         Collections of the pioneer work on the weed flora of the farmlands of Egypt (1966-1976) in collaboration with the Prague botanists; namely: J. Chrtek, J. Osbornova-Kosinova and the Swedish Gun Romée,

·         The notable collections from Sinai Peninsula between 1960-1970,

·         Enormous collection of cultivated plants from Botanical Gardens and National parks that were regularly visited for more than five decades are well preserved in the Herbarium,

·         The efficient exchange program carried out with the leading herbaria of the world, enriched the Herbarium in valuable collections from all over the world. Such collections have been serving as a reference material for candidates conducting taxonomical research,

·         The type collection in Cairo University Herbarium amounts to 99 specimens which represent the most valuable collection in this Herbarium,

·         Until the present, no accurate number of the specimens in the Herbarium can be given. Yet it may roughly reaches to 200,000 specimens arranged according to Engler's system in two separate halls: the largest (Vivi Täckholm's Hall) include families of the Dicotyledoneae except Compositae kept in 40 woody cases, while the second houses about 50,000 collections of Compositae and the families of Monocotyledoneae kept in 40 metallic cases. Another minor annex includes about 5,000 specimens of Thallophyta, Vascular Cryptogams and Gymnosperms kept in 10 metallic cases.

The Herbarium library

Vivi Täckholm's Hall houses standard works, monographs and world floras; in addition to an almost complete set of the monumental work "Description de l'Egypte". The periodical library is attached to the second hall. The library comprises a selection of specialized publications received as exchange with some institutions abroad. Our collection of maps, geography and travel works are partly housed in this hall as well.

The library section of the second hall comprises literature in Cryptogamic Botany, Economic Botany, Cytology, Genetics, etc.

The personnel and research fields

From 1975 onwards, the Cairo University Herbarium sponsored a long-term program on the floristic and phytogeographical studies, and the systematic revisions of the taxa of the Flowering Plants that were not systematically treated earlier. Through this research program, many new accessions are added to the Herbarium. The staff of the Herbarium also conducts Archaeobotanical, ethnobotanical, palynological and phytochemical studies. Altogether, 17 staff members (4 professors, 4 assistant professors, 5 lecturers and 4 demonstrators) represent various research fields in plant taxonomy, floristic studies and other relevant subjects.