An important indicator characterizing collections and the significance of the Herbarium is the number of authentic specimens. Department of type specimens, as it used to happen in all the Russian herbaria (then – USSR) was established as a separate collection in the 80s of the twentieth century. A.V. Polozhiy was in charge of the establishment while V.F. Balashov was arranging the collections. Type (authentic) specimens are transferred to the collection from the general collection and serve as a basis to describe species, subspecies, varieties and hybrids. Currently, the type collection includes holotypes isotypes, paratypes, lectotypes, isolectotypes and syntypes of taxa described mainly from Siberia, as well as standard specimens obtained from other herbaria. Totally, there are 2,000 specimens of more than 700 taxa. The basis of the collection is standard specimens (mainly – the holotypes) of taxa described by botanists of the Tomsk University – P.N. Krylov, V.V. Sapozhnikov, L.P. Sergievskaya, B.K. Shishkin, V.V. Reverdatto, G.P. Sumnevich, A.V. Polozhy and others. In addition, the collection comprises type specimens of taxa described in the nineteenth century by N.S. Turchaninov, S.I. Korzhinsky, A.G. Schrenk, A. Regel, A. Bunge, and I.M. Krasheninnikov. The type collection was significantly enriched after the revision of the flora of Central Asia using materials collected in the nineteenth century by the famous Russian botanists G.S. Karelin and I.P. Kirilov who contributed more than 100 types of specimens (mainly isolectotypes). In recent decades, the collection was widened with type specimens of taxa described by A.S. Revushkin, V.I. Kurbatskaya, I.I. Gureyeva, M.V. Olonova, A.L. Ebel and others. Selection of type specimens from the collections is a big research work, which cannot be performed overnight; the selection of the specimens has lasted for more than 20 years. Currently, Herbarium Curator I.I. Gureeva and the lead engineer of the Herbarium V.F. Balashov are performing marking-out and typification of specimens from the collections of the Herbarium.
