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| Herbarium of the Natural History Museum | |
|---|---|
| Name | Herbarium of the Natural History Museum |
| Alt | Herbarium cabinets |
| Established | 18th–20th centuries |
| Location | South Kensington, London |
| Type | Scientific collection |
| Collections | Vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, historical specimens |
Herbarium of the Natural History Museum is the major botanical collection housed at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, forming one of the world’s largest and most historically significant herbaria. It supports taxonomy, systematics, conservation, and biodiversity research through preserved specimens, archives, libraries and associated data that connect to global initiatives and institutional partners.
The herbarium traces its origins to 18th- and 19th-century collections gathered by figures associated with the British Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Linnean Society, and explorers of the Age of Discovery such as Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace. Growth accelerated under curators linked to H. G. Baker, George Bentham, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and collectors like John Hutton Balfour, William Roxburgh, Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773), and Ernst Haeckel whose specimens and correspondences intersect with institutions including Kew Gardens, Linnean Society of London, Royal Society, British Museum (Natural History), and Natural History Museum, London donors and patrons such as Sir Hans Sloane and Sir Joseph Banks. Major acquisitions connected the herbarium to colonial networks exemplified by materials from East India Company, expeditions like the Voyage of HMS Beagle, diplomatic scientific exchanges with Imperial Russia, and transfers involving collectors such as William Jackson Hooker and Ferdinand von Mueller. The twentieth century saw consolidation under curators influenced by policies from Science and Art Department, wartime relocations during World War II, and postwar collaboration with organizations like UNESCO and International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Holdings encompass vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, seeds, and type specimens associated with taxonomists including Carl Linnaeus, George Claridge Druce, Auguste de Candolle, Ernst Friedrich Gilg, Joseph Hooker, Isaiah Bowman and collectors such as David Douglas, Thomas Cooke (botanist), Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, Peter Good, Thomas Coulter, Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Aimé Bonpland, José Celestino Mutis, and William Carey (missionary). The type collection houses original material for names proposed by authorities like Carl Willdenow, George Bentham, Alphonse de Candolle, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Otto Kuntze, Erik Acharius, Friedrich Welwitsch, Johann Reinhold Forster, Georg Forster, Nikolai Vavilov, and Joseph Dalton Hooker. Regional strengths include floras from Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands with specimen series collected by David Livingstone, Richard Spruce, Ernest Henry Wilson, Ferdinand von Mueller, Robert Fortune, Odoardo Beccari, Alfred Wallace, and Alexander Skottsberg. Special collections comprise historical herbaria, expedition archives, botanical art linked to Maria Sibylla Merian, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, John Gould, Walter Hood Fitch, and manuscript correspondence with botanists like Miles Joseph Berkeley and Thomas Nuttall.
The herbarium is managed by curators, collection managers, and archivists connected to professional bodies such as The Linnean Society of London, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Natural Environment Research Council, and universities including University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London, Royal Holloway, University of London, University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester, University of Glasgow, University of Bristol, University of Leeds, University of Birmingham, Queen Mary University of London, and international partners like Smithsonian Institution, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Missouri Botanical Garden, Australian National Herbarium, National Herbarium of Victoria, New York Botanical Garden, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, and National Museum of Natural History (France). Facilities include climate-controlled storage, conservation labs modelled after practices at Kew, databasing teams that follow standards set by Global Biodiversity Information Facility, digitisation units collaborating with Atlas of Living Australia, and security coordinated with British Library and museum services.
Research spans taxonomy, phylogenetics, biogeography, and conservation biology with outputs published in journals and series associated with Nature, Science, Journal of Ecology, Systematic Botany, Taxon (journal), Kew Bulletin, Phytotaxa, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, New Phytologist, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Biological Conservation, Conservation Biology, and monographs influenced by work at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. Staff and collaborators include researchers with affiliations to Natural History Museum, London, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Smithsonian Institution, Missouri Botanical Garden, New York Botanical Garden, and international projects with GBIF, BOLD Systems, iDigBio, Global Plants on JSTOR, European Nucleotide Archive, and programs funded by Wellcome Trust, UK Research and Innovation, European Research Council, and Leverhulme Trust.
Specimen access, inter-institutional loans, and digitisation follow protocols compatible with Convention on Biological Diversity, Nagoya Protocol, and data-sharing frameworks endorsed by Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Biodiversity Heritage Library, iNaturalist, Encyclopedia of Life, Atlas of Living Australia, and regional herbaria networks such as Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities. Digital imaging projects, barcoding collaborations with Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, and databasing partnerships with Natural History Museum, London library services enable remote access for institutions like University of São Paulo, National Autonomous University of Mexico, University of Tokyo, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, CSIRO, Universidade de Lisboa, and Universidad de Chile. Loans policy aligns with standards used by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, New York Botanical Garden, Smithsonian Institution and conservation lists from IUCN.
Public engagement occurs via displays, exhibitions and educational programming in collaboration with cultural partners such as Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum, London, British Museum, Royal Society, Royal Albert Hall outreach events, and festivals like Chelsea Flower Show, Brighton Science Festival, Edinburgh International Science Festival, and Chelsea Physic Garden collaborations. Exhibitions have drawn on historical specimens tied to figures like Charles Darwin, Joseph Banks, Maria Sibylla Merian, Alexander von Humboldt, Alfred Russel Wallace, and artworks by Pierre-Joseph Redouté and Walter Hood Fitch, and contribute to public resources including Biodiversity Heritage Library and citizen science initiatives with Zooniverse, iNaturalist, and GBIF outreach. Educational partnerships extend to schools and universities such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, King's College London, UCL, RBG Kew, and community projects supported by Heritage Lottery Fund and charitable trusts.
Category:Herbaria Category:Natural History Museum, London collection