The Herbarium
The
New York Botanical Garden Herbarium is the foundation of the Garden's botanical
research program. The Herbarium holds a vast collection of preserved
plant specimens filed according to a standardized system of classification.
All plant groups--flowering plants, conifers, ferns, mosses, fungi, lichens, liverworts,
and algae--are represented by specimens collected in all parts of the world, but
the greatest strength of the Herbarium is the Americas, where NYBG's research
has been focused.
In only 100 years, NYBG has created one of the most active, best-curated, and most comprehensive herbaria in the world. Containing more than 6.5 million specimens, it is the fourth largest in the world, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and is widely recognized as a research resource of international importance. Its collections are being augmented constantly by collections made by NYBG's staff and by gifts, purchases, and exchanges of specimens from other herbaria.