The ESA Herbarium and its teaching and extension work Vinicius Castro Souza, Alexandre Gibau Gibau, Cássio Patrocinio Toledo, Danielle Muniz da Silva, Gabriel Dalla Colletta, Juliana Kuntz, Karinne Sampaio Valdemarin, Marianna Conceição Rodrigues, Priscila Orlandini, Rubens Gayoso Coelho, Thiago Bevilacqua Flores

Abstract

The ESA Herbarium, from the Department of Biological Sciences of the “Luiz de Queiroz” School of Agriculture – USP, is located in the municipality of Piracicaba/SP, and began at the beginning of the 20th century, although its consolidation occurred around the years 1980. Currently, the ESA Herbarium has a collection of around 170,000 plant specimens, of which approximately 123,000 records are computerized and available in the CRIA database, which places it as one of the main collections available for online consultation. At the moment, the ESA Herbarium directly involves six undergraduate and eight postgraduate students, who are encouraged to participate in various extension activities focused on the area of ​​plant taxonomy, in addition to courses, seminars and exhibitions. Among the extension works, projects linked to floristic surveys stand out with the purpose of subsidizing management actions in public and private areas. Regarding teaching activities, the ESA Herbarium team has participated in several courses and lectures linked to the most diverse areas of plant systematics, in addition to organizing educational events for both university students and the general public. In view of this, the important role of the ESA Herbarium stands out, not only as one of the largest herbaria in the state of São Paulo and, thus, as fundamental in the study of the taxonomy of vascular plants and biodiversity, but also as a motivator for carrying out research activities. teaching and extension by its students, which contributes significantly to the training of human resources.