USC's herbarium, one of the oldest and largest in the Southeast with nearly 85,000 dried-and-pressed plants, is a repository for nearly every botanical species found in South Carolina. But new plants always are popping up, and the herbarium staff is eagerly looking for more.

"It's OK if someone sends us a plant specimen that we already have because we're interested in plant variation," said John Nelson, herbarium curator. "That's why we've collected specimens of red maple from nearly every county of the state; they're not all the same."

Plant specimens are sought not only from South Carolina but other locales from across the country, too, Nelson said. Cultivated plants, whether houseplants or from gardens, are also desired.

The herbarium, located on the second floor of the Coker Life Sciences Building, also provides free plant identification services.

"If you have a weed or some other plant that you can't identify, pluck a piece of it and bring it to us fresh in a bag or dried and pressed," Nelson said. "We can usually identify it within a day or two."

For more information about the A.C. Moore Herbarium or plant identification and collection, call Nelson at 7-8196 or e-mail: nelson@sc.edu.