Welcome to: ARK HERBARIUM - Aboriginal Knowledge Repository Herbarium Information Management System (HIMS), 2008 
By Steven G. Newmaster & Ragupathy Subramanyam.
WELCOME!
This site provides access to those specimen records and images available digitally through the Aboriginal Repository Knewledge Information Management System.
The ARK vessal is located within the OAC Herbarium, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph. An ARK vessal is a collection of well documented, pressed and mounted plant samples that are labelled with the taxonomy and collection information such as location, time, habitat, aboriginal repository knowledge and collectors. ARK data is a resource for researchers, professional botanists, faculty, graduate students, naturalist, environmental consultants and the public. It also is a source of genetic material and data bank of floristic ecological information.
The ARK vessal at the OAC Herbarium, University of Guelph houses approximately 20,000 ARK herbarium specimens, collected from all around the world. The collection provides excellent coverage in ethnobotanical notes and houses vouchers for the Flora Ontario Integrated Botanical Information System (FOIBIS). The collection also contains DNA Barcoding Vouchers for the Botany Division of the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario. OAC Herbarium is committed to making this important collection more accessible to botanists and others, wherever they may be, for use in their own projects: particularly in biodiversity, conservation, sustainable development and systematics. To this end we have developed HIMS, which contains labelled information and images of all the specimens at the OAC Herbarium.
Our Aboriginal Repository Knowledge (ARK) program has been established and has received national and international support as a vessel of traditional knowledge. Currently, ARK is a collection of voucher specimens and their associated traditional knowledge from aboriginal collectors around the globe (especially – Canada, India, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, South America, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt and USA). Our team of aboriginal collectors and botanist work together in order to bridge traditional knowledge with science providing a safe vessel (ARK) to carry this knowledge into the future. We are also developing an international exchange program with other Herbaria housing aboriginal collections. The collection is housed in a set of special cabinets, with a dedicated database (linked to FOIBIS) within our Herbarium at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario. The aim and long term goal of this ARK is to establish a digital data dictionary of the traditional knowledge received from indigenous cultures globally. This will also help to elucidate aboriginal classifications, nomenclature, utility, ecological knowledge (TEK) and views on conservation. Our understanding of ethnobiological classification will reside in ARK and may catalyze the development of new medicines and agricultural cultivars.
ARK Herbarium Information Management System (ARKHIMS)
This site presents data to the Researchers, Students, Faculties and Public from the OAC Herbarium, BIO, CBS, University of Guelph. The collection is fully searchable/browse providing the information such as names of species, genus, family or accession number. The label information for each record contains further information such as its locality, forest type, habit, habitat, plant collector information, distribution type, nativity type, and ecological notes. There is also a function for printing OAC Herbarium labels for collaborating Botanist whom wish to send vouchers to the OAC Herbarium. For more detail please contact Dr. Newmaster, Director, OAC Herbarium, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario