The oldest specimen in the MyCoPortal is housed at Purdue and was collected in 1769 in Tierra Del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. It was collected by the Englishman Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Daniel Carl Solander during the first great voyage of Captain James Cook's ship "The Endeavour". Among the 125 specimens collected at Tierra Del Fuego was one of Berberis ilicifolia. In 1970, 200 years after specimen exchanges brought it from the British Museum to the U. S. National Museum, it was realized that the specimen was infected with a rust fungus, Puccinia meyeri-alberti. The rusted leaf was retained as a separate specimen and is now housed at Purdue.
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