The State Herbarium of South Australia holds approx. 1,036,000 specimens, over two-thirds of which are databased (mainly Australian vascular plants). This specimen data is available online through

• the State Herbarium’s eFloraSA web-site (Plant distribution mapper tool and google map function in the Census of SA plants, algae and fungi)
• Australia’s Virtual Herbarium (AVH), with the data also being projected on the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA).

This week, AVH has achieved the milestone of over 5,000,000 herbarium records from Australian herbaria being available online. This includes over 660,000 records from the State Herbarium, the majority of which (c. 477,000 records) are of South Australian plants. Other interstate herbaria contribute over 120,000 records of specimens collected in South Australia. Though this collaborative effort, it is now possible to provide a more detailed picture of the distribution of plants in South Australia and nationwide.

AVH is an initiative of the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria and pools the collection data of over 6 million specimens from Australia’s major herbaria.