Farlow Herbarium

Farlow Herbarium
Name	Farlow Herbarium
Established	1919
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Type	Herbarium
Collections	Cryptogams, lichens, fungi, algae, bryophytes, vascular plants

Farlow Herbarium The Farlow Herbarium is a research herbarium and specialized collection focused on cryptogamic botany located at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It supports scholarship in mycology, lichenology, phycology, bryology, and paleobotany, and interacts with institutions such as the Harvard University Herbaria, the Arnold Arboretum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Gray Herbarium, and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The Herbarium plays roles in regional and global networks including the New England Botanical Club, the Botanical Society of America, the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, the International Mycological Association, and the Consortium of Northeast Herbaria.

History

The origin of the Farlow Herbarium traces to benefactors and scholars linked to Harvard College, including Edward Salisbury, Asa Gray, Charles Darwin correspondents, Charles Sprague Sargent, and George Lincoln Goodale, who shaped early botanical holdings. The formal establishment in the early 20th century involved figures such as William Gilson Farlow, Benjamin Lincoln Robinson, Roland Thaxter, and Merritt Lyndon Fernald, connecting to institutions like Harvard University, the Arnold Arboretum, the Gray Herbarium, and the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. Over decades the Herbarium attracted collections from collectors and correspondents such as Lewis David von Schweinitz, Elias Durand, William Starling Sullivant, William Gilson Farlow (namesake), H. H. Whetzel, and C. L. Shear, while interacting with global nodes exemplified by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the New York Botanical Garden, the Field Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution. Twentieth-century developments involved collaborations with botanists and institutions including Roland Thaxter, Edith Katherine Cash, and contemporary partnerships with the National Science Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Collections and Holdings

The collections emphasize cryptogams with strengths in lichens, fungi, algae, bryophytes, and pteridophytes, and include type specimens, historical exsiccatae, and mounted collections from collectors such as S. F. Blake, Oakes Ames, John Torrey, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and Ferdinand von Mueller. Holdings encompass material from regions studied by explorers and collectors linked to James Cook, Alexander von Humboldt, Alfred Russel Wallace, Ernest Henry Wilson, and Thomas Nuttall, as well as floristic projects with ties to the United States Geological Survey, the United States Department of Agriculture, the New England Botanical Club, and state herbaria in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The Herbarium curates type specimens associated with taxonomists like Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, Elias Magnus Fries, Anton de Bary, Lewis David von Schweinitz, Miles Joseph Berkeley, Pier Andrea Saccardo, and Curtis Gates Lloyd, and maintains special collections from private donors such as Joseph Charles Vance, Alfred E. Eaton, and William Mitten. Digital imaging and databasing initiatives link specimens to resources at the Biodiversity Heritage Library, JSTOR Global Plants, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, iDigBio, the Consortium of Northeastern Herbaria, and Harvard Dataverse.

Research and Scholarship

Research at the Herbarium spans taxonomy, systematics, phylogenetics, biogeography, and paleobotany, involving scholars who publish in journals such as Mycologia, The Bryologist, Lichenologist, Phytotaxa, Taxon, and American Journal of Botany. Collaborations extend to universities and research centers including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley, Cornell University, Michigan State University, and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Grants and projects have been funded by agencies and foundations like the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Packard Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation, and involve networks such as the International Mycological Association, the International Association for Lichenology, the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, and the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. Notable research topics link to historical studies of collections associated with Carl Linnaeus, Joseph Banks, John H. Redfield, Asa Gray, Charles Sprague Sargent, and contemporary molecular work referencing projects at the Broad Institute and the Harvard Medical School.

Facilities and Preservation

Facility stewardship is coordinated within Harvard University buildings and conservation programs that interface with the Harvard University Herbaria, the Arnold Arboretum, the Smithsonian Institution, and conservation units at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Preservation practices adopt standards from the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, the Northeast Document Conservation Center, the Library of Congress conservation guidelines, and professional services used by the New York Botanical Garden and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Climate control, integrated pest management, cryopreservation collaborations with the National Center for Cryo-EM, and digitization suites mirror infrastructure at institutions such as the Field Museum, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Natural History Museum, London. Long-term curation ensures accessibility for collaborators including curators and researchers from Harvard, Yale Peabody Museum, the New England Botanical Club, the Linnean Society of London, and international partners.

Education and Outreach

Educational programs engage students and publics through Harvard University courses, seminars, fieldwork with the Boston Natural Areas Network, citizen science initiatives with iNaturalist, workshops with the New England Botanical Club, and public lectures parallel to offerings at the Arnold Arboretum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. Outreach includes teacher training in partnership with Massachusetts Audubon Society, K–12 curricula connected to the Boston Public Schools, summer internships similar to programs at the Smithsonian Institution and the New York Botanical Garden, and exhibitions coordinated with the Harvard Semitic Museum and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Digitization and online catalogs provide resources for global users via GBIF, JSTOR Global Plants, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, and Harvard Dataverse.

Notable Staff and Alumni

Notable figures associated with the Herbarium include William Gilson Farlow (namesake), Roland Thaxter, Edwin B. Mains, Arthur Hollick, Edith Cash, Margaret N. Stevens, Benjamin Lincoln Robinson, Merritt Lyndon Fernald, Roland Thaxter collaborators, and subsequent curators who have worked with colleagues at Harvard, the Arnold Arboretum, the Gray Herbarium, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Institution. Alumni and research associates have moved to positions at institutions such as Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, Cornell University, the Natural History Museum, London, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the Field Museum, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Contemporary staff maintain ties to professional societies including the Botanical Society of America, the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, the International Mycological Association, and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections.

Category:Herbaria in the United States