The National Herbarium of Biology Department – College of Science - United Arab Emirates University (NH-UAEU) is the first herbarium in the United Arab Emirates, registered in Index Herbarium (NYBG) as the first and biggest herbarium in the United Arab Emirates
The herbarium includes 19,000 dried plant samples preserved with their scientific names, provided with adequate information, and representing 630 species of wild plants that have been recorded in the environments in the country such as deserts, mountains, valleys or plains.
In the country, there are more than a hundred species that are medically exploited, including senna, drunk, harmal, harsh, Shar’a, bitter melon, arak, Sidr, Markh, Al-Sharham, scorpion race and Jaddah. The plant groups in the herbarium are of great importance to any student of plants, as the description of a plant, no matter how accurate it may be, will not give a fully adequate picture of it. Therefore, comparison with real samples is necessary as the herbarium serves the science of plant division and other closely related branches.
The herbarium provides many services, the most important of which is the definition and classification of wild plants and weeds associated with agricultural crops and providing researchers and students with information and data about wild plants in the United Arab Emirates. The science of taxonomy of plants and flora, training students on preparing plant samples for herbarium preservation, defining and classifying them, training students to make anatomical sectors in different parts of plants, and conducting scientific trips with researchers and students to collect plant and wild samples.The herbarium has issued the Flora book for the United Arab Emirates, where the book, which consists of two parts, will present an extensive study on the classification of wild plants and weeds associated with crop crops. (leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds) and the genera and families to which they belong. To facilitate identification of plants, models were drawn for most of them, in addition to colored pictures taken in the places where the plants grow. The local and Arabic names of the plants were mentioned in addition to the scientific names. The book is also provided with botanical keys in a sequential system through which different botanical specimens can be distinguished. The book, which is a scientific botanical encyclopedia, includes the first part of a complete description of about 250 plants falling under 40 plant families, in addition to providing it with more than a hundred color pictures and 184 illustrations of plants. 199 illustrations.
One of the most important projects that keep pace with technological development, especially the use of artificial intelligence applications, where the herbarium digitization team is conducting a comprehensive survey of all samples in preparation for the launch of a special application to define the plants of the United Arab Emirates
