The Herbarium of the State University of Campinas - UEC is maintained by the Department of Botany of the Institute of Biology of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). To the Department belong 15 Professors working in the main areas of Plant Systematic, Structural Botany and Plant Ecology. It is a research and teaching Center and forms professionals to work in Universities and Research Institutes of several Regions of Brazil. These professors work in two Post-graduation programs of the Institute of Biology: Plant Biology and Ecology.
The Herbarium was founded in 1974 by the Professors of the Department and in 1979 was internationally registered by the Index Herbariorum by the acronym UEC
. In this short lifetime it became the third largest Herbarium in São Paulo State with more than 148.000 specimens. This makes it one of the important consulting centers for the Southeast Region of Brazil.
The collection is formed basically by material from "cerrados" and woodlands of the Southeast, South and Central-West Regions of Brazil.
Besides the material from collecting trips, it has also collections derived from several floristic and phytosociological projects, enriching it in species from local floras, specially from São Paulo State. Another worthy source of material is the exchange policy that UEC maintains with several Herbaria from Brazil and abroad
Due the collections of the project "Phanerogamic Flora of São Paulo State" granted by Fapesp and CNPq, UEC had a substantial growth (about 8.000 to 10.000 specimens per annum) since he is the second one official Herbarium to receive the collected material.
In 1999 the whole Herbarium was renewed due a Project granted by Fapesp. The collection, in climatized rooms, is now stored in compactors that means a growth of 53% of the original capacity.
The Herbarium staff has active participation in big projects as Flora of the States of São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Goiás and Minas Gerais, and Florulas as of Reserva Ducke, Serra do Cipó, Grão Mogol, Pico do Pai Inácio, Serra do Cabral and Carrancas either as a Thesis project of the post-graduation students or as an individual research project of the staff.
The collection of UEC is used either by the professors and researchers of the Department or by their students of post-graduation and scientific initiation. Also, several students and professors of another Departments of the Institute of Biology like Zoology or Genetic or another Institutes as Chemistry and Food Engineer use the collection in order to identify the botanic material or to include vouchers of their researchs.
The Herbarium UEC is also regularly visited by students or researchers from another Universities and Research Institutes of the State of São Paulo as well as of another States and even though from abroad.