Specialty: Vascular plants of coastal regions from San Francisco Bay to southern Oregon; Napa County, California; Klamath Mountains; Arizona; Nevada.
Date Founded: 1967
The San Diego State University Herbarium (SDSU) is a depository of over 26,000 pressed and mounted specimens of vascular plants and over 400 specimens of algae, used in research and teaching. We have also initiated a bryophyte and lichen collection. The purpose of these specimens is: 1) to serve as voucher documentation for research projects; 2) to serve as resources for plant identification; and 3) to serve as exemplars in plant courses. In addition, the herbarium both receives and provides loans of plant specimens used in active systematic research. The herbarium collection specializes in land plant specimens from San Diego County, California, and Baja California, with some collections from Australia, Chile, and the south Pacific.
The Klamath National Forest encompasses nearly 1.7 million acres of land straddling the California and Oregon border in the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountain Ranges. In the mountains to the west, the terrain is steep and rugged, while the east-side has gentler, rolling terrain of volcanic origin, sprinkled with buttes and valleys. Elevations range from 450 to 9,001 feet above sea level at Thompson Peak, on the Siskiyou-Trinity County divide. The Klamath National Forest is one of America’s most biologically diverse regions, due to the blending of four floristic provinces and boasts a center of coniferous diversity (19 species) in the Russian Wilderness. The Klamath National Forest Herbarium aims to preserve and record the many rare and endemic species unique to the region.
The Hoover Herbarium houses 85,000+ specimens of vascular plants, algae, lichens, and bryophytes. The geographic focus is San Luis Obispo County, California. The collection also includes many specimens from other areas of California, other states of the US, particularly Arizona, and some from other regions of the world, especially Mexico. Emphasis areas in the collection include Asteraceae, Lupinus, and cultivated Eucalyptus. Major collections include Robert F. Hoover (1946–1969), David J. Keil (1966–present), Rhonda Riggins (1970s–2000), Tracy Call (mostly Apiaceae—late 1940s–1960s), and Robert J. Rodin (1940s–1977). The collection is used extensively in undergraduate teaching and training.
Important Collections: Robert F. Hoover (1946–1969), David J. Keil (1966–present), Rhonda Riggins (1970s–2000), Tracy Call (mostly Apiaceae—late 1940s–1960s), and Robert J. Rodin (1940s–1977)
The Herbarium at the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History (UC Santa Cruz) houses more than 13,500 vascular plants, algae, lichens, bryophytes, and fungi. The collection focuses primarily on mostly native organisms from Santa Cruz County and the University of California Reserves but also contains important specimens from throughout California and occasionally those of interest from elsewhere around the world. The research collection archives research and publication voucher specimens and the student collection serves as a university educational resource. Notable collections within the UCSC Herbarium include those of R. Morgan (1969-2017), Dylan Neubauer (collections of interest from throughout California), David Styer (Fort Ord National Monument collections), Neal Kramer (Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve collections), Ken Kellman, Al Keuter, and the Bureau of Land Management collections from Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument.
The Sierra Pacific Industries Forestry Division manages ±1.9 million acres in California's North Coast, Klamath and Cascade Ranges, Modoc Plateau, and Sierra Nevada. Most of the collection results from botanical surveys within forestland and associated habitats, accompanied by various specific studies, and includes both rare and common species. Our focused list of special-status plants comprises 400+ species and the botanical surveys guide rare plant protection as part of a long-term management strategy.
The SBBG natural history collections house the region's largest scientific collection of preserved Central Coast and California Channel Islands vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, and macrofungi. Across these collections, the Garden curates approximately 214,000 specimens. Vascular plant specimen data are served on this portal (https://cch2.org/). Lichen specimen data are served on the Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria (https://lichenportal.org/cnalh/). Macrofungus specimen data are served on the Mycology Collections Portal (https://mycoportal.org/portal/index.php). Bryophyte data are served on the Consortium of Bryophyte Herbaria (https://bryophyteportal.org/portal/).
The combined Herbarium of California Botanic Garden (RSA) and Pomona College (POM) is a museum-quality collection of vascular plant and bryophyte specimens. With current holdings totaling over 1,250,000 specimens, the Herbarium is the third largest in California. The Herbarium is recognized throughout the world for its strength in documenting the diversity, distribution, variation, and ecology of more than 6,500 species of flowering plants, conifers, and ferns in California, which constitutes nearly 50% of the total collection. The holdings from Southern California exceed 250,000 and are unsurpassed by any other herbarium. Approximately 95% of the collection is composed of mounted sheets and filed according to a standardized system of classification. Ancillary collections that augment the collection include a cone & fruit collection, wood collection, fluid preserved collection, and pollen and anatomy slide collection.
Founded in 1945 by Dr. Carl Sharsmith, the herbarium at San Jose State University houses a collection of more than 18,500 dried plant specimens. Many specimens were collected over Dr. Sharsmith's long career as a university professor and natural history ranger at Yosemite National Park. The collection is actively curated with approximately 500 new specimens being added every year.
The herbarium has approximately 18,000 specimens preserved as dried, pressed specimens.
The UCLA Herbarium (LA) was founded in ca. 1930, and contains approximately 150,000 specimens, almost entirely dried vascular plants. The herbarium contains collections of notable UCLA biologists such as A. M. Johnson, Carl Epling, Margaret and Harlan Lewis, Peter H. Raven, Martin A. Cody, Henry J. Thompson, Jonathan Sauer, Joseph Andorfer Ewan, Elizabeth McClintock, Mildred E. Mathias, Lawrence L. Kiefer, Barbara Joe Hoshizaki and Barry A. Prigge. The core of the collection contains specimens collected between 1920-1970 from North America (75%), South America (13%), Asia & the Pacific (10%), Europe (1%), and Africa (1%). The UCLA Herbarium also maintains a collection of cultivated plants from West Los Angeles (ca. 8,000 specimens), a Santa Monica Mountains Collection and Los Angeles Basin (ca. 11,000 specimens), a Baja California Collection (ca. 4,000 specimens), and a Type Collection (500 specimens). Additional collection strengths include the Lamiaceae, Loasaceae, and Onagraceae clades.
MacFadden Herbarium is operated by the Department of Biological Science at Cal State Fullerton and houses over 30, 000 vascular plant specimens. The herbarium is named for botanist Fay A. MacFadden, who sold her extensive collection of plants to the university just prior to her death in 1964. The collection is used as research and teaching tools by our faculty, staff, students, and other researchers.
Western U.S., especially southern California and Orange County; Baja California, Mexico.
The geographical specialty of the FSC is Fresno County and parts of surrounding Inyo, Kern, Madera, Mono, and Tulare Counties: including the Sierra Nevada mountains, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Mojave Desert. About nine-tenths of the accessioned collection, or 31,500 specimens, is from California, with the remaining tenth from other states and countries. We estimate that half of the California collections are from high Sierra Nevada ecosystems (above 7000 feet), as this was Quibell’s focal collecting area. The other half of the collection represents the San Joaquin Valley itself, including riverine ecosystems, vernal pools, and agricultural ecosystems; the western Diablo Range region between Panoche and Coalinga; and the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, including the northern extent of the Mojave Desert. There is no particular taxonomic speciality among vascular plants, and only about ~100 of the specimens are federally or state listed as rare, threatened, or endangered (representing 29 taxa). Collectors who frequently contributed to the FSC collection: Charles H. Quibell (founder of the herbarium in 1925 and Fresno State biology professor); John "Jack" Springer, a USFS employee whose private herbarium of 1930s California grass collections was donated to FSC; Rimo C. Bacigalupi, first curator of the Jepson Herbarium, with collections from the 1950s and 1960s; Philip A. Munz from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Pomona College, who collected in the 1920s-1950s and provided many of the FSC specimen determinations for specimens collected by Charles H. Quibell; John “Jack” Rockwell, who collected in the Fresno area in the mid-20th century and whose specimens are almost entirely confined to FSC; and John H. Weiler, FSC Herbarium curator and Scrophulariaceae specialist.
University of California, Davis herbarium vascular plant collections are worldwide, with emphasis on California, North America, and neotropics (especially Ecuador and Baja California).
Our collections are especially strong in the following taxa: Quercus, Fagaceae, and Arctostaphylos, Ericaceae of New World; Euphorbiaceae worldwide; Poaceae of North America; Streptanthaus (Brassicaceae); Clarkia (Onagraceae); Lycianthes and Lycopersicon (Solanaceae); Stephanomeria and tarweed genera (Asteraceae); Navarretia (Polemoniaceae); Allium (Alliaceae); Trifolium (Fabaceae);Prunus (Rosaceae).
Our regional strengths are: Central Valley of California vernal pool species; weedy and poisonous species of California and Mediterranean-climate regions; range plants of California; alpine flora of western North America.
Estimated size of collection: 320,000 specimens, 50% from California.
The Harry D. Thiers Herbarium at San Francisco State University maintains over 220,000 specimens. Its primary research focus is mycological, but there are roughly 27,000 vascular plant specimens. Special vascular plant collections of SFSU include the California Floristic Province including a particularly large and taxonomically robust collection of Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae).
Primarily vascular plants of California but with holdings in other parts of North America and some other places worldwide. Vascular plant specimens are on herbarium sheets, bryophytes and lichens are in paper packets. We have nearly 25,000 specimens.
The CSLA Herbarium holds approximately 35,000 dry-mounted vascular plant specimens from around the world, with particular collection emphasis in Southern California and Northern Mexico. Founded in 1956, CSLA contains significant collections from J. Henrickson, B. Prigge, and R. M. Straw.
The Chico State Herbarium is the most complete repository of plant specimens from northeastern California. The emphasis is on the northern California flora, and includes a great number of rare, threatened, and endangered plant species. Established with specimens donated by the late Professor Vesta Holt in the 1950's, the Herbarium now contains more than 125,000 dried and mounted specimens. The majority of samples are flowering plants, conifers, and ferns, but bryophytes, lichens, and especially slime molds, are also well represented. The Herbarium is used extensively for identification of sensitive and other plant species by various agencies and individuals. Loans of herbarium specimens are made to any higher academic institutions who request them.
The Humboldt State University Vascular Plant Herbarium (HSC) consists of ~104,000 specimens, with a strong emphasis in the flora of northwest California and southwest Oregon. Established in 1960, the Herbarium serves as a botanical resource for students and faculty, as well as, community members and professional botanists. Our collections offer excellent opportunities to learn more about the rich diversity of our native flora, as well as, our exotic and invasive weeds. The Herbarium also participates in loan and exchange programs with other herbaria throughout the country.
Established in 1895 around a core of preserved plant specimens that were collected by William Brewer on the California Geological Survey of 1860 to 1864, the University Herbarium (UC) includes 2,200,000 specimens from land plants, algae, lichens, and fungi.
Established in 1950 by a bequest from Willis Linn Jepson, the Jepson Herbarium (JEPS) includes over 100,000 vascular plant specimens from California.
UC/JEPS will be publishing a Darwin Core dataset through the Berkeley Natural History Museums IPT in the near future. When that is setup a link to that dataset will be provided here and be linked to the CCH account in GBIF. When CAP-TCN is over, the data displayed in CCH2 will be uploaded directly through the Museum IPT.
The herbarium at CSUSB was founded in 1969, four years after the campus opened. The specimens it houses have been collected primarily from San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. The herbarium, however, contains specimens from other counties, states, and countries.
Herbarium contact: Sean Lahmeyer (slahmeyer@huntington.org)
Founded in the 1920s, the Botany Lab and Herbarium of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (Plant Pest Diagnostics Center) serves as the plant diagnostic and identification service for California, and is the repository for the state collection of noxious weed and agricultural plant specimens. Size of collection: ca. 60,000 plant specimens. Notable collections include those of CDFA and County Agricultural Commissioner staff, M. K. Bellue, T. C. Fuller, G. Douglas Barbe, G. F. Hrusa, and G. L. Stout. The Gilbert L. Stout Plant Disease Herbarium (CDA-BPS) has ca. 10,000 unaccessioned specimens, integration into CDA is in progress.
Collections are available via the CCH2 Portal
Algae collections dataset for the California Department of Food and Agriculture - Algae (CDA) are available via the Macroalgae Portal
Fungi collections dataset for the California Department of Food and Agriculture - Fungi (CDA) are available via the MyCoPortal
CITES US 241; APHIS PPQ Containment facility #889; Foreign Importation PPQ 588 P526P-20-04200 [exp 10302023]; Interstate movement PPQ 526 P526P-20-02933 [exp 07012023]; CA State Diagnostic Plant Pest Permit 2828 [exp 08312023]; CDFW CESA (2081(a)-19-011-RP) AMENDMENT 1.
The CDFA PPDC Seed Herbarium has ca. 30,000 accessions in the Seed and Fruit Collection (CDA SFC), and is curated and databased separately from CDA (curator Emi Kuroiwa). Notable collections in CDA-SFC include those of CDFA and County Agricultural Commissioner staff, M. K. Bellue, B. Crampton, P. B. Kennedy, D. Baxter, B. M. Browning, D. Decker-Walters, and C. Dremann.
Data Manager 2011-2013 (former): Travis Lawrence.
The Catalina Island Conservancy Herbarium houses about 2,000 vascular plant specimens. All specimens were collected on Santa Catalina Island. 73% of the specimens were collected in the 1970's and 1990's by Mark L. Hoefs.
(May 2023- Label transcription is complete- thank you to all those that contributed! Contact Jonathan Knight if you would like to help with georeferencing or phenology scoring)
The INF herbarium houses approximately 4400 vascular plant specimens, primarily from eastern California over the last century, plus over 100 bryophyte specimens. The location is shared with an additional herbarium collection belonging to the Bureau of Land Management Bishop Field Office. The collection also includes Mary DeDecker’s original field notes and personal botanical library.
The herbarium of the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History contains approximately 7,500 specimens which are concerned principally with the vascular plants of Monterey County, California and the adjacent inner coast range mountains which border it, including collections from San Benito, western Fresno, and portions of Kings County. Ninety percent of the collections are from Monterey County, California. The herbarium includes the Monterey County collections of Beatrice F. Howitt, duplicates of specimens sent to CAS and identified by J.T. Howell resulting in: The Vascular Plants of Monterey County, California by Beatrice F. Howeitt and John Thomas Howell, The Wasmann Journal of Biology, Vol. 22, No. 1, Spring 1964 and Supplement published by The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Assoc, July, 1973.
Herbarium contact: Paul Vandecarr (Vandecarr@pgmuseum.org)
UC field station herbarium databased, imaged, and managed by UC/JEPS
UC field station herbarium databased, imaged, and managed by UC Berkeley.
CAS, DS. Worldwide bryophyte specimens, ca. 150,000 specimens.
The combined Herbarium of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSA) and Pomona College (POM) is a museum-quality collection of vascular plant and bryophyte specimens. With current holdings totaling over 1,250,000 specimens, the Herbarium is the third largest in California. The Herbarium is recognized throughout the world for its strength in documenting the diversity, distribution, variation, and ecology of more than 6,500 species of flowering plants, conifers, and ferns in California, which constitutes nearly 50% of the total collection.
Vascular plants, fungi (lichens and mushrooms), marine algae, mosses, rare plants, vouchers for local consultants and vouchers for Mendocino Flora by Smith and Wheeler.
The Stephen J. Barnhart Herbarium at Pepperwood houses specimens of fungi, lichen, and non-vascular and vascular plants collected at Pepperwood Preserve, Sonoma County, California. It includes plants collected by Greg deNevers who worked as the resident biologist for the California Academy of Sciences during the 1980s. The Barnhart Herbarium is under the supervision of the Preserve Ecologist and is primarily staffed by volunteers and community scientists, who are involved in the collection of plant specimens and the curation and maintenance of the Herbarium.
Founded in 1970 by Dr. Wesley E. Niles, the herbarium now holds about 70,000 specimens. Its primary focus is the vascular plant diversity in the Mojave Desert regions of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and California. In 2023, the herbarium was transferred to the College of Southern Nevada. It is housed in the building A of the Henderson campus. Important collections include those of T. Ackerman (Desert National Wildlife Refuge); J. C. Beatley (Nevada Test Site); V. Bostick (central and southern Nevada); D. Charlet (Nevada); I.W. Clokey (Spring Mountains); M.Kurzius, D. Schramm, P. Peterson, and C. Annabel (Death Valley, California, and Nevada); S. Meyer (southern Nevada); A. Tiehm, A. Pinzl, and H. Mozingo (central and northern Nevada); W. Niles, P. Leary, J. Holland, and J. Alexander (Nevada, California, and Arizona), and L. Stark (bryophytes of southwestern deserts).
Email marcus.hooker@csn.edu to request access to redacted data.
The Oregon State University Herbarium (OSC) houses approximately 550,000 vascular plant, bryophyte, algal, and fungal specimens. The collections are worldwide in scope, with a focus on the state of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada. Our vascular plant collection also includes the ORE and WILLU herbaria, and specimens should be cited based on the original herbarium. Square brackets indicate interpreted information not on the original label.
Previous dataset version:
The UCSB botanical collections, housed at the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, include over 250,000 taxa of terrestrial and marine species. The vascular plant herbarium includes approximately 100,000 vascular plant specimens, lichens curated by Dr. Shirley Tucker, and the C.H. Muller Oak collection. The algal herbarium houses approximately 8000 specimens dating from the 1880s.
Public records of accessioned specimens curated by the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. These data are from the Department of Botany.
This collection represents the specimens collected by Dean William Taylor (1948-2020) prior to 2019. These specimens have not yet been accessioned into herbaria and will be transfered as this process occurs.
This dataset contains all digitized vascular plant specimen records stewarded by the Harvard University Herbaria and collected in California, Oregon, Nevada, or Baja California. The Harvard University Herbaria, with over 5 million specimens, is the world’s largest University Herbaria. Included in the Herbaria are what were once six separate herbarium collections: * Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum (A) * Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames (ECON) * Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium (AMES) * Farlow Herbarium (FH) * Gray Herbarium (GH) * New England Botanical Club Herbarium (NEBC). DarwinCore data follows the AppleCore guidance.
The LASCA herbarium is taxonomic collection of exotic flora of Southern California. Vouchers from the living collections of the Arboretum feature prominently in the more than 20,000 specimen collection. The collection also contains field-collected specimens from Mediterranean climate regions of the world.
Algal collections dataset for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDA).
Founded in the 1920s, the Botany Lab and Herbarium of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (Plant Pest Diagnostics Center) serves as the plant diagnostic and identification service for California, and is the repository for the state collection of noxious weed and agricultural plant specimens. Size of collection: ca. 55,000 plant specimens. Notable collections include those of CDFA and County Agricultural Commissioner staff, M. K. Bellue, T. C. Fuller, G. Douglas Barbe, G. F. Hrusa, and G. L. Stout. The Gilbert L. Stout Plant Disease Herbarium (CDA-BPS) has ca. 10,000 unaccessioned specimens, integration into CDA is in progress.
CITES US 241; APHIS PPQ Containment facility #889; Foreign Importation PPQ 588 P526P-20-04200 [exp 10302023]; Interstate movement PPQ 526 P526P-20-02933 [exp 07012023]; CA State Diagnostic Plant Pest Permit 2828 [exp 08312023]; CDFW CESA (2081(a)-19-011-RP) AMENDMENT 1.
The CDFA PPDC Seed Herbarium has ca. 50,000 accessions in the Seed and Fruit Collection (CDA SFC), and is curated and databased separately from CDA (curator Deborah J. Meyer, retired Volunteer). Notable collections in CDA-SFC include those of CDFA and County Agricultural Commissioner staff, M. K. Bellue, B. Crampton, P. B. Kennedy, D. Baxter, B. M. Browning, D. Decker-Walters, and C. Dremann.
525 S Foothill Dr, Yreka, CA 96097
Founded in 1936, the Pinnacles National Park herbarium contains pressed specimens of plants and fungi collected in Pinnacles National Park, California. All collecting at PINN requires an approved permit which can be accessed through https://irma.nps.gov/RPRS/.
The combined Herbarium of California Botanic Garden (RSA) and Pomona College (POM) is a museum-quality collection of vascular plant and bryophyte specimens. With current holdings totaling over 1,250,000 specimens, the Herbarium is the third largest in California. The Herbarium is recognized throughout the world for its strength in documenting the diversity, distribution, variation, and ecology of more than 6,500 species of flowering plants, conifers, and ferns in California, which constitutes nearly 50% of the total collection. The holdings from Southern California exceed 250,000 and are unsurpassed by any other herbarium. Approximately 95% of the collection is composed of mounted sheets and filed according to a standardized system of classification. Ancillary collections that augment the collection include a cone & fruit collection, wood collection, fluid preserved collection, and pollen and anatomy slide collection.
The San Diego Mesa College Herbarium (SDM) contains approximately 3,500 specimens, mostly from southern California. The collections are used in teaching and research.
The herbarium at Death Valley National Park (DEVA) houses over 4,000 specimens of vascular plants and bryophytes collected from park lands in California and Nevada. Access to the collection is granted to researchers by advance appointment.
Vascular plants of western North America, primarily northern and central California. Dried plant specimens.
Pteridophytes, angiosperms
Herbarium specimens of plants collected from the Eldorado National Forest from 1912 - present
Our herbarium was established in 2019 as San Diego Botanic Garden began its science and conservation focus. Our herbarium encompasses c. 300+ specimens (and growing!) of mostly rare plants in San Diego and Imperial Counties but extends through the central coast as well. All of our specimens are preserved (pressed vouchers).
The San Diego State University Herbarium (SDSU) is a depository of over 25,700 pressed and mounted specimens of vascular plants and over 400 specimens of algae, used in research and teaching. We have initiated a bryophyte collection, which we plan to add to in the coming years. The purpose of these specimens is: 1) to serve as voucher documentation for research projects; 2) to serve as resources for plant identification; and 3) to serve as exemplars in plant courses. In addition, the herbarium both receives and provides loans of plant specimens used in active systematic research. The herbarium collection specializes in land plant specimens from San Diego County, California, and Baja California, with some collections from Australia, Chile, and the south Pacific.
The San Diego State University Herbarium (SDSU) is a depository of over 25,700 pressed and mounted specimens of vascular plants and over 400 specimens of algae, used in research and teaching. We have initiated a lichen collection, which we plan to add to in the coming years. The purpose of these specimens is: 1) to serve as voucher documentation for research projects; 2) to serve as resources for plant identification; and 3) to serve as exemplars in plant courses. In addition, the herbarium both receives and provides loans of plant specimens used in active systematic research. The herbarium collection specializes in land plant specimens from San Diego County, California, and Baja California, with some collections from Australia, Chile, and the south Pacific.
The collection chiefly consists of herbarium voucher specimens of vascular plants collected in the vicinity of the White Mountains Region on the border of California and Nevada. A majority of the specimens were collected by Victor Duran, Oren Pollack, Richard S. Mitchell, Robert M. Lloyd, and James D. Morefield during the 20th Century.
California Botanic Garden's microscope slide collection comprises over 100,000 anatomical and palynological microscope slides. Major contributors to the collection include Sherwin Carlquist, J. Travis Columbus, and Clyde Calvin.