The value of this huge collection is incalculable. "All we know about most of the world's organisms is a name, a description and samples in a collection," says Solomon. "Specimens are the raw data for our concepts about plants. They are an archive of natural history - as significant to our understanding of the natural world as cultural artifacts are to human history."

But the specimens are not the end point of the herbarium, they are really the beginning, says Solomon. "All kinds of scientists ask questions of the herbarium - and the questions today are more diverse than ever. People in search of heavy-metal deposits have examined plants that accumulate these substances. Also, visiting entomologists have correlated our plants with species of insects. A hundred years from now, people will ask questions we can't imagine today. Our collection will be ready for them."