The Palynology collections at the Florida Museum of Natural History
are many and diverse. The collection was started in earnest in 1997
with the hiring of D.M. Jarzen on staff as Collection Manager for
the Paleobotany and Palynology section. The various components of
the collection are itemized below.
The John F. Grayson Library: Received as a donation
to D.M. Jarzen through the courtesy of the Canadian Museum of Nature,
Ottawa, Canada, the library consists of about 10,000 reprints, books,
maps, and other materials associated with the career of John Grayson
(Pan American Petroleum Corporation, Tulsa, OK). Since the establishment
of the Grayson Library, other palynologists have donated part or
all of their collections to the FLMNH. These include the
Dan Beju Library of mostly dinoflagellate papers numbering
about 800, The Evan Kidson Library, S.A.J.
Pocock Photographic Collection and the Don Engelhardt
Library of more than 6,000 entries of papers, reprints,
books and reports.
The Modern Pollen Reference Collection includes
7,500 prepared slides of pollen and spores of primarily tropical
regions of the world, used as reference material in palynologic
analysis of Paleogene, Neogene and younger fossil assemblages. Included,
is a fine collection of 600, Orchidaceae pollinia received as a
donation from Dr. Pamela Burns Balogh. The FLMNH
Modern Pollen Reference Collection stands as one of the 5 largest
collections of reference pollen material. Other additions to the
pollen and spore reference collection include donations from Satish
Srivastava, David Dilcher, Paul & Hazel Delcourt, Al Loeblich,
Warren Drugg, Gretchen Jones, Vaughn Bryant and David & Susan
Jarzen.
Fossil Localities: Collections of prepared slides
and unprocessed samples from fossil localities add to the value
of the palynology collections. These collections include material
from Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic age rocks, as well as recent
material from lake sediments in Florida and the Caribbean. Much
of the prepared material is preserved on microscope slides and scanning
electron microscope stubs. Geographically the material covers all
continental lands and oceanic regions. Most of this material has
been donated to the FLMNH by D.M. Jarzen, with
other collections received from D.L. Dilcher, S. Srivastava,
S.R. Manchester, and John F. Grayson.
Fossil pollen grain from Eocene rocks (55 million
years old) from west-central Florida. Photograph by D.M.Jarzen
Photographic Collection: A modest collection of about 4,500, 35mm,
color transparencies of localities, pollen and spore forms, and
other items accompanies the palynology collections. These slides
have been donated to the FLMNH by D.M. Jarzen.
The photographic collection is being digitized to increase its utility.
Use of the collections may be made by contacting Hongshan
Wang, Collection Manager, Paleobotany and Palynology.
D.M. Jarzen
September 12, 2011
