Herbarium Kewense

Herbarium Kewense
Name	Herbarium Kewense
Established	1853
Location	Kew Gardens, Richmond upon Thames, United Kingdom
Collection size	~7 million specimens
Curator	Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Website	Official website

Contents

Herbarium Kewense is the main research herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew located at Kew Gardens in Richmond upon Thames, London. Founded in the mid-19th century, it serves as a global repository for vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, algae and lichens, supporting taxonomy, conservation and biodiversity studies. The herbarium underpins work by institutions such as the Natural History Museum, London, Royal Society, Wellcome Trust and global networks including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the International Barcode of Life.

History

The collection traces origins to the herbarium specimens assembled by William Hooker and expanded under Joseph Dalton Hooker following the establishment of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as a national botanical institution. During the Victorian era the herbarium grew through exchanges with collectors connected to expeditions by James Cook, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and correspondents of the British Empire such as Joseph Banks and Alexander von Humboldt. The herbarium survived organisational changes during the administrations of directors including William Jackson Hooker and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, and was reshaped by 20th-century curators who linked Kew to projects led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, United Nations Environment Programme and post-war botanical surveys. Key historical events affecting the collections include contributions from voyages like the Voyage of the Beagle and scientific networks established at the Linnean Society of London and the Royal Society.

Herbarium Kewense houses an estimated seven million specimens encompassing vascular plants, bryophytes, algae, lichens and fungi assembled from global sources such as collectors associated with Kew Economic Botany Collection, colonial-era botanical gardens, and modern field programs led by partners like the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Taxonomic breadth includes families documented by authorities such as Carl Linnaeus, George Bentham, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. Geographic strengths encompass specimens from the Amazon Rainforest, Madagascar, Southeast Asia, East Africa and the Pacific Islands, with historic specimens tied to expeditions by David Livingstone, Robert Falcon Scott and collectors sent by the Kew Economic Botany Collection. The holdings include type material for names published in works like Genera Plantarum, Species Plantarum and revisions by taxonomists associated with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Curation follows standards developed in collaboration with institutions such as the Natural History Museum, London, Botanical Research Institute of Texas and the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. Preservation techniques include controlled-environment storage influenced by conservation science from partners like the Victoria and Albert Museum and treatments aligned with protocols used at the British Museum. Protective measures address risks documented in studies by the Environment Agency and the Historic England heritage sector. Specimen databasing and physical rehousing have been coordinated with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and philanthropic sources such as the Wellcome Trust and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Digitisation at Kew has been undertaken as part of consortia with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities, US National Phenology Network and the Digitising Hidden Collections initiatives. High-resolution imaging, metadata capture and georeferencing support integration with platforms including JSTOR Global Plants, Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Encyclopedia of Life. Open-access data sharing aligns with mandates from funders like the European Commission and the UK Research and Innovation agency. Collaborative projects with the Natural History Museum, London, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Finnish Museum of Natural History have increased specimen discoverability for researchers working on floras of regions covered by the Flora Malesiana and Flora Zambesiaca projects.

Herbarium Kewense staff and affiliates contribute to taxonomy, systematics and conservation through collaborations with researchers at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, Missouri Botanical Garden, University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. Outputs include monographs, floras and revisions published alongside partners like the Linnean Society of London and journals such as Kew Bulletin and Taxon. Molecular systematics work links Kew collections to labs at the University of California, Berkeley, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Sanger Institute, informing global red-list assessments coordinated with the IUCN. Kew botanists have been involved in nomenclatural decisions under rules of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants and large-scale syntheses including the Plant List and the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.

The herbarium preserves types and historically significant specimens associated with collectors and authors such as Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Joseph Dalton Hooker and George Bentham. Important holdings include material cited in foundational works like Species Plantarum and representative collections from regions explored by Captain Cook and the Beagle expedition. Type specimens underpinning names published in monographs by Kew staff are used in taxonomic revisions by researchers at the Natural History Museum, London, Missouri Botanical Garden and university herbaria including Harvard University Herbaria and the New York Botanical Garden.

Herbarium Kewense functions as a national and international hub, partnering with botanical gardens such as the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Botanic Garden of Belgium and the Arnold Arboretum, as well as research institutions including the Natural History Museum, London, Smithsonian Institution and universities like University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. Collaborative networks include the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities and conservation programmes run with the IUCN and Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Training and capacity-building activities connect Kew with botanical institutions across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands through initiatives supported by the European Union and philanthropic foundations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.