University of Michigan Herbarium

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The University of Michigan Herbarium is the herbarium of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States. [1] [2] One of the most-extensive botanical collections in the world, the herbarium has some 1.7 million specimens of vascular plants, algae, bryophytes, fungi, and lichens, and is a valuable resource for teaching and research in biology and botany. [3] [4] The herbarium includes many rare and extinct species. [5]

Contents

Administration

Formerly an independent unit of the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA), the herbarium is now part of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology within LSA. [6] The herbarium is located at 3600 Varsity Drive in Ann Arbor. [3]

History

The Herbarium's collection was established in 1837. [3] Asa Gray was appointed Professor of Botany and Zoology in 1838. [3] Collections were moved to the Main Building (later Mason Hall) in 1841. [7] The first published research paper based on the university's botanical holdings came in 1877, when a paper by Professor Mark W. Harrington was published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society . [3] [8]

Mycologist Alexander H. Smith spent his entire career at the University of Michigan Herbarium, and was its longtime director.

Collections

Among the 1.7 million specimens held by the herbarium are: [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema (1954). Index herbariorum. International Bureau For Plant Taxonomy And Nomenclature.
  2. ↑ Smith, A. C. (1956). "Herbaria of the United States". AIBS Bulletin. 6 (2): 12. doi:10.2307/1291987.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barndt, Kerstin; Sinopoli, Carla M., eds. (2017). Object lessons & the formation of knowledge: the University of Michigan museums, libraries, & collections 1817-2017. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN   978-0-472-13027-6.
  4. ↑ wdiep@mlive.com, William Diep | (2025-10-20). "A 2-headed trout, coral snakes: Inside the University of Michigan Herbarium and Museum of Zoology". mlive. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  5. ↑ About, University of Michigan Herbarium.
  6. ↑ Director's Update, University of Michigan Herbarium.
  7. ↑ History, University of Michigan Herbarium.
  8. ↑ Harrington, M. W. (1877). "The Tropical Ferns Collected by Professor Steers in the Years 1870-1875". Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany. 16 (89): 25–37. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1877.tb00169.x – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
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