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| Herbarium, Natural History Museum, London | |
|---|---|
| Name | Herbarium, Natural History Museum, London |
| Established | 1753 (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew linkages); 1881 (Natural History Museum institutional formation) |
| Location | South Kensington, London |
| Type | Herbarium |
| Collections | Vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, lichens, historical collections |
| Size | over 3 million specimens |
| Curator | Principal Curators and Collection Managers |
Herbarium, Natural History Museum, London
The Herbarium in the Natural History Museum, London is a major botanical collection housed within the South Kensington institution associated with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the British Museum, and the Linnean Society of London. It serves researchers from the Royal Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the Natural Environment Research Council, and international partners such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. The Herbarium's specimen base supports collaborations with universities including University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and King's College London.
The Herbarium's origins trace to transfers and amalgamations involving the British Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Linnean Society of London, and private collections of figures like Joseph Banks, Alexander von Humboldt, and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. During the 19th century expansions under directors connected to the Royal Society and the East India Company, specimens from voyages of HMS Beagle, HMS Endeavour, and expeditions by David Livingstone, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Charles Darwin entered public holdings. Institutional developments after the 1881 foundation of the Natural History Museum involved curators trained at Kew, collaborations with the British Museum (Natural History), and acquisitions from collectors such as William Jackson Hooker, George Bentham, and Ferdinand von Mueller. The Herbarium endured wartime relocations during the First World War and the Second World War alongside transfers coordinated with the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Library.
The Herbarium contains millions of specimens including vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, algae, fungi, and type material associated with taxonomists like Carl Linnaeus, Robert Brown, and John Lindley. Significant named collections include sheets from Joseph Banks, specimens from the voyages of James Cook, material collected by Joseph Hooker on the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and botanical samples from botanists such as Alfred Wallace, Richard Spruce, and Marianne North. Holdings comprise type specimens described in publications by Asa Gray, George Bentham, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, and Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, and are cross-referenced with catalogues from institutions like the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Natural History Museum, Paris, and the Field Museum. The Herbarium's archives include correspondence linked to Charles Darwin's letters, expedition logs from the Hudson's Bay Company, and herbarium sheets associated with explorers including Ernest Shackleton and John Hanning Speke.
Management is overseen by principal curators, collection managers, and taxonomic specialists who liaise with funding bodies such as the Natural Environment Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and the European Research Council. Governance aligns with museum policies used by institutions like the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Science Museum Group, and operates within frameworks influenced by the International Association for Plant Taxonomy and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Staff maintain conservation protocols promoted by ICOM, collaborate with academic departments at University College London, and engage legal advisers on material transfer agreements similar to those used by the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol.
Researchers based at the Herbarium contribute to taxonomic revisions, phylogenetic studies, and biogeographic research cited in journals such as Nature, Science, and the Journal of Ecology, and collaborate with projects from the Royal Society, the Linnean Society of London, and the Systematics Association. The collection underpins studies in molecular systematics involving techniques from Oxford University, Cambridge University, and EMBL-EBI, and supports conservation assessments used by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and PlantLife International. Historic type specimens inform nomenclatural decisions governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants and assist global initiatives like the Catalogue of Life, the Barcode of Life Data System, and the Global Plants Initiative.
Public engagement is provided through exhibitions in the Natural History Museum galleries, loans to institutions such as Kew Gardens and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and educational programmes developed with the British Geological Survey, the Science Museum, and local universities. The Herbarium offers researcher access under conditions comparable to those at the British Library and the National Archives and provides specimen-based identification services used by horticultural institutions including the Royal Horticultural Society and professional societies such as the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Outreach includes lectures, workshops, and citizen science partnerships with organisations like the Open University and the Natural History Museum's public programmes.
Digitisation efforts connect the Herbarium to global platforms including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, and JSTOR Global Plants, with specimen records shared with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Projects funded by the European Union, the Wellcome Trust, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have produced high-resolution images, databased metadata, and searchable catalogues used by researchers at University of Edinburgh, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and the Australian National Herbarium. Digital infrastructure interoperates with standards from the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities, the Darwin Core schema, and the IPT software used by national collections.
Category:Herbaria Category:Natural History Museum, London