Herbarium collections and genetic resourcedocumentation at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj Napoca

The importance of voucher specimens in genetic resource documentation is briefly discussed, and the scientific herbarium of the Faculty of Agriculture Cluj Napoca is presented. The first centuria of the Herbarium was edited in 1880; the main collectors and organisers were B. Pater, l. Prodan, Al. Buia and A. Nyarady. The development of the herbarium is linked to the foundation of the first independent Experimental Station of Medicinal Plants (1904) and the organisation, of the Seed Testing Station in Cluj (1884). In the first period of its existence the herbarium served for floristic research and for the preservation of voucher specimens cultivated on experimental fields. The second period was a truly floristic one and the third was characterised by floristic and weed research. The main herbarium collection contains at present 27,175 registered specimens and about 1 11, 100 unregistered sheets.