The mission of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands is to preserve natural environments and places of historic significance for present and future generations of the Cayman Islands. This covers both large and small-scale features. Preserving tracts of land in their natural state is very important, but to manage them effectively it is essential to know exactly what plants and animals are there to be protected and what they require for their health and survival.

Plant and animal identification is vital to such studies. To that end, two major collections are being compiled and maintained by the Trust to provide an authoritative scientific reference, the Herbarium and the Insectarium. The Trust also houses a few minor collections of other natural history material such as crocodile fossils and preserved pond fauna, often arising from scientific work on Trust sites and projects.

A herbarium is both a plant library and a plant museum. The Trust's Herbarium consists of examples of plants found in the Cayman Islands that have been identified and preserved. The collection began over 30 years ago by Dr. George Proctor, a specialist on West Indian plant species and author of the reference book, Flora of the Cayman Islands which is now available for sale in the Cayman Nature Store located in the National Trust visitor's centre.

Dr. Proctor has now passed but frequently visited Cayman, under the Trust's Visiting Scientists Programme and occasionally consulted the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. 66 new records of plants growing wild in the islands have been documented since publication of the original edition. To date, it is known that 667 species of plants grow in the wild in the Cayman Islands, of which 21 are endemic - that means they grow wild only here and nowhere else. 

For several years, Dr. Proctor's core collection of 234 specimens was held in the care of the former Mosquito Research and Control Unit. It was handed over to the Trust in 1990. Since then the collection has grown and now contains 1,106 specimens in 97 plant families. This means that three-quarters of Cayman's wild plants are now represented in the Herbarium and this is being added to all the time!

The process of gathering and preserving a plant has to be carried out carefully and precisely to ensure that the sample is of high quality and that it will remain in good condition for as long as possible. Trust staff or trained volunteers collect the specimen: only cuttings of larger plants are taken, leaving the parent plant to continue growing. If possible the specimen is collected when the plant is in flower and/or fruit. Detailed notes are taken at the time, noting the date and place of collection, descriptions of the habitat and position, and any details that will be lost from the sample when dried, like the scent and colour of the flowers. If possible, the plant is identified when collected.

The specimen is then taken to the Trust House where it is preserved. Usually this involves pressing the plant between sheets of newspaper, blotting paper and cardboard and drying it in a purpose built dryer. Samples that are not suitable for drying are preserved in spirit.

When the specimen is ready for inclusion in the Herbarium, the information from the collector's notes is transferred to a label. Dried specimens are fixed with special tape to a sheet of acid-free paper, about 10"x18" in size. The label is then fixed to the appropriate page and the sheets are placed in folders. The folders are arranged first by plant family and then by genus (the name of the group sharing similar characteristics within that family). The plants are labeled with their formal scientific names, to avoid any possible ambiguity, but any local common names in use are also included in the record.

So what should you do if you find a wild plant that you believe to be new or rare? Firstly, don't digit up! If you are familiar with botanic keys, you can look to see if it is catalogued in Flora of the Cayman Islands which is available at the Public Library in George Town, Grand Cayman. Alternatively, if you can do this without killing the plant, you can take a small cutting, including any flowers or fruits, seal it in a moist plastic bag, and bring it to the Trust House. A member of staff will attempt to identify it and, if appropriate, make arrangements for the specimen to be included in the Herbarium.

Sadly, the Herbarium already contains specimens of plants collected in the 1950's, which may now be extinct as a consequence of rapid deforestation in Cayman.

The Herbarium is a resource for the expert, amateur or professional. It is used by visiting scientists and can be consulted by prior arrangement with the Trust.

You can also view the Herbarium online.

Last Updated: 2/15/2017