SUNDAY 3 JUNE, 2018 – UWI TODAY
11
NATIONAL HERBARIUM 200
TH
ANNIVERSARY
Ken Julien, then Chairman of the Scientific Advisory
Council, who recognized it as a most valuable
resource and recommended that the Government of
Trinidad and Tobago take over its financial support
as a ‘national asset’ with UWI as the custodian. We
became the National Herbarium of Trinidad and
Tobago (registered as TRIN in the IndexHerbariorum)
in 1973.”
Skipping 30 years, Baksh-Comeau says, “In 2005,
theUKgovernment funded aDarwin Initiative Project,
awarded to Oxford University to collaborate with the
Herbarium at UWI and the Forestry Division. They
introduced us to the RBS (Rapid Botanical Survey)
method. Trinidad and Tobagowas the first Small Island
Developing State (SIDS) to implement this method.
We collected approximately 25,000 specimens in two
years. It was the most intensive and extensive survey
ever undertaken on the islands, and combined with the
herbariumhistorical andmodern collections, resulted
in the identification of ‘botanical hotspots’ of high
conservation value on our two islands. The herbarium
collectionwas digitized and the RBS samples databased
and uploaded into the BRAHMS (Botanical Research
and Herbarium Management System) software and
sent electronically to the Oxford University website.
It was a pioneering project and represents a model of
collaboration.”
The survey resulted in the 2016 publication, “An
annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad&
Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical
hotspots.” This project involved plant ecologists Dr
William Hawthorne and the taxonomist Dr Stephen
Harris, both fromOxfordUniversity, the full staff of the
TRINHerbarium, along with a team of volunteers, 29
forest officers, who assisted ShobhaMaharaj, Research
Officer, who conducted the survey of 240 sites from
which over 22,000 specimen samples were identified.
The “checklist” may be purchased online through
the link:
/
phytotaxa.250.1.1 or from the limited number of
printed copies available at the Herbarium.
By the numbers, according to Baksh-Comeau,
a total of 3,639 species were recorded, of which 108
are endemic, 2,407 indigenous and 1,222 exotic.
Indigenous plants are those found in specific regions or
ecosystems as the result of natural processes; endemic
species are exclusively native in a particular place or
ecosystem. Pride of place in the Herbarium is occupied
by the special collection of Theobroma and Herrania
species inherited from the Anglo-Columbian Cocoa
Collecting Expedition of 1952-53 to the tributaries of
the Amazon and Magdalena rivers in the Andes by
staff from the Cocoa Research Scheme of the ICTA.
We may be rich in the trees that have taken root
here over the years: a reflection of all the people who
came to populate the Caribbean. But Baksh-Comeau’s
response to a question about what’s really native to
our islands in our daily diet is a revelation: “Shadon
beni,” she says, “may be the only native (named by
those who came from India, bandhania) plant. And
balata.” Almost everything else that we eat came from
elsewhere.
The Darwin Project 2006 to 2008 coincided with
the refurbishing of the Herbarium. It was an intense
double workloadwith satisfying results: theHerbarium
now features state-of-the-art facilities, microscopes
and photographic equipment, climate-controlled
storage lockers, and a library. Beverley Adams-
Baptiste, the librarian, who joined in this period,
Curator of the National Herbarium
of T&T, Yasmin Baksh-Comeau, here
identifies plant specimens for an isotopic
research project.
PHOTO: TERRY SAMPSON
Her Excellency President Paula-Mae Weekes plants a tree at The
UWI St Augustine Campus grounds at the launch of the 200th
anniversary celebrations of the National Herbarium. Looking on,
from left, are Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal Professor
Brian Copeland; Yasmin Baksh-Comeau, Curator at the National
Herbarium, and Senator Avinash Singh, Parliamentary Secretary in
the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries.
PHOTO: GUYTN OTTLEY
welcomes visitors whether their interest is scientific
or merely curious. Among the artifacts in this library
are watercolour paintings of common Tobago plants
drawn by Major Charles Dalton Grigson between
1946 and 1948.
“Today, we have over 50,000 specimens. I think we
have coveredmost of the vascular (ferns and flowering
plants) plants in Trinidad and Tobago in the collection.
We are looking at a mycological (fungi) collection
next.” Baksh-Comeau is concerned that the Herbarium
needs a new expansion: more space for research and
outreach, and certainly for public engagement and
exhibits, is required. Her vision, however, goes beyond
the museumwalls. She advocates for living collections
all over our two islands.
“The trees here on the campus at the UWI - some
of which may be decades even a hundred years old –
should be a teaching collection. Many of them have
created the settings for students’ social activitymarking
memorable occasions on campus – cool spaces for
meals, quiet contemplation, courting, proposing – and
should be cherished. Our task must be to foster and
seed the greening of the urban landscape. Our campus
should be a continuum of the Northern Range, the
living heritage of appreciating and conserving our
biodiversity.
“We started on World Biodiversity Day (May
22) with the ceremonial planting of two trees by the
President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,
Her Excellency Paula-Mae Weekes, and our Pro Vice
Chancellor and Principal, Professor Brian Copeland.
At the same time, the label on one mature tree was re-
installed by the Deputy British High Commissioner;
this is symbolic and relevant since the new labels on
all the trees will bear QR codes which will link to the
Virtual Campus Arboretum on the new herbarium
website under construction.”
In mid-June, students from Hillview College,
in collaboration with the UWI Biodiversity Society,
will undertake the planting of 200 native trees on a
degraded hill slope near the college premises. These
trees will also be labeled in due course. It will be the
pilot for getting many other communities involved.
Baksh-Comeau is excited by the prospect of living trees
and forests. She is grateful for the contribution of trees
by the Herbarium volunteers, Dan Jaggernauth and
George de Verteuil and the Forestry Division, saying:
“We need to bring all sectors of society to reforest
the landscape, especially urban areas, in order to instill
appreciation of trees and the value of biodiversity; in
order to foster conservation and protection of the
natural forest.”
