Written and edited by world-renowned experts.

• Specific chapters covering curation of material collections including herbarium, ethnozoological, paleoethnobotanical , xylarium, ethnographic, ethnobiological products, DNA, horticultural, and seed collections

• Chapters on the curation of related reference collections including databases, books and archives, photographs and images, linguistic and audio information, and ethnographic information

• Further chapters consider the implications of biocultural collections in cultural, indeigenous, ethical and legal contexts

• Each chapter has a bibliography citing important references in individual fields

• An appendix provides a much more extensive bibliography on references for curating biocultural collectionsBiocultural collections are plants and animals used by people, products made from them, and/or information and archives about them. They are numerous and diverse, including biological specimens, natural products (e.g., medicine, food, fiber, oil, latex, etc.) and cultural artifacts (e.g., clothing, baskets, weaponry, tools, etc.) from around the world. Biocultural collections benefit scientists, conservationists, development workers, teachers, students, and the general public. However, these collections are poorly curated and data based – if at all – making them largely inaccessible for research and reference. At a time when wild crop relatives, landraces, and knowledge about traditional plant uses are being lost at an alarming rate, our biocultural collections are also degrading and being orphaned or lost.

Curating Biocultural Collections aims to address these issues and develop standards of curation,

and help institutions to properly care for collections that have been severely neglected and under-utilized. Written and edited by experts from around the world, this book demonstrates that with proper curation, data basing, and on-line and physical access, these valuable resources can be used in research, conservation, development and education, and preserved for future generations. Kew Publishing in association with Missouri Botanical Garden Press