Vascular Plants

Botany & Mycology

The Vascular Plant Herbarium is a repository of plants collected primarily from New York and adjacent states or provinces. It also contains a significant number of specimens from other areas of North America and abroad. The early establishment and importance of the Herbarium through John Torrey’s collections for A Flora of the State of New York (1843) and the prominence of Herbarium staff attracted many important botanists and collections. This included material from Lewis Caleb Beck, Chester Dewey, Henry Parker Sartwell, Edward Tuckerman, Asa Gray, and Peter D. Knieskern among others. The herbarium also received important type specimens from M. A. Curtis, L. S. Rose, I. W. Clokey, C. F. Austin, B. D. Gilbert, C. S. Sheldon, E. Brainerd, C. S. Sargent, E. P. Bicknell, and H. M. Denslow. Throughout its history, the herbarium grew considerably from collections made by state botanists, Charles H. Peck (tenure: 1868-1913), Homer D. House (tenure: 1913–1948, active until his death in 1949), Eugene C. Ogden (tenure: 1952–1975), and Richard M. Mitchell (tenure: 1975-2002) and curators, Stanley J. Smith (tenure: 1947-1978) and Charles J. Sheviak (tenure: 1978-2013).

In addition to collections made by museum staff, and by the many other botanists who document the flora of New York, the herbarium preserves important collections that were transferred from other institutions. These transferred institutional collections include the following:

ASLC: The herbarium of the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation.
ASRC: The herbarium of the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, Whiteface Mountain Field Station.
BROC: The original State University College at Brockport herbarium. That institution continues to maintain an herbarium with many new collections.
GESU: A major component of the State University of New York at Geneseo herbarium. This institution continues to maintain an herbarium.
GLA: The herbarium of the George Landis Arboretum comprised almost entirely of collections made by Theodore C. Baim.
MSMC: The herbarium of Mount Saint Mary College, which comprises the herbarium of New York University’s Sterling Forest Research Center.
POST: The C.W. Post Herbarium from Long Island University. This collection includes the CUNY Hunter College herbarium.
Wildlife Resources Center (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation).
Today, the Vascular Plant Herbarium continues to grow and contains approximately 210,000 accessioned specimens.