Bolus Herbarium

An aerial view of the Bolus Herbarium library in the HW Pearson Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town

The Bolus Herbarium was established in 1865 from a donation by Harry Bolus of his extensive herbarium and library to the South African College, which later became the University of Cape Town.

Its collection of specimens numbers over 320 000, making it the third largest university herbarium in the Southern Hemisphere.[1] The collection is highly representative of the Cape Flora and also houses many type specimens. The international herbarium abbreviation BOL is used when referring to the Bolus Herbarium.

Although the building caught on fire during the 2021 Table Mountain fire, which gutted several other collections in the university including the Plant Conservation Unit, the Bolus Herbarium managed to narrowly escape being destroyed in the blaze.[2][3]

  1. ^ "The Bolus Herbarium, Global Plants on JSTOR". plants.jstor.org. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  2. ^ Craig Hilton-Taylor. "I heard from Callen Cohen that the fire in the Pearson building is out and that the Bolus is safe". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  3. ^ Alex Lansdowne. "The top floor was burnt but it did not get to the Herbarium". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-04-18.