SANDAKAN: The Sabah Forestry Department’s SAN Herbarium officially opened its Exhibition Gallery at the Forest Research Centre (FRC), Sepilok by Datuk Zulkifli Suara, the Chief Conservator of Forests.
The SAN Herbarium Exhibition Gallery was established to showcase the botanical heritage of Sabah and highlights the important role of herbarium collections in scientific research, biodiversity documentation and conservation.
The gallery also serves as an educational platform to introduce visitors to the work of botanists and herbarium scientists, including plant identification, the documentation of plant species and the preservation of scientific specimens.
Established in 1916, SAN Herbarium is one of Sabah’s most important botanical research facilities and houses the state’s largest herbarium collection.
Located at the Forest Research Centre in Sepilok, the herbarium maintains more than 280,000 preserved plant specimens representing Sabah’s rich plant diversity, alongside collections from other parts of Borneo and beyond.
These scientific collections are valuable references for plant identification, taxonomic research, biodiversity inventories, conservation assessments and the documentation of plant distribution.
They also provide essential historical records that enable researchers to study changes in plant diversity and distribution over time.
The collections support research by botanists, foresters, conservation practitioners and other researchers working to improve knowledge and management of Sabah’s plant resources.
The exhibition gallery is open on weekdays for pre-arranged educational visits by secondary schools and academic institutions but not for general walk-in public visits.
Such visits can be arranged through the Curator of SAN Herbarium via website at https://www.sanherbarium.com/
