HERBARIUM
The University of Massachusetts Herbarium includes two herbaria,
the Amherst College Herbarium started in 1829 by Professor Edward Hitchcock,
and the Massachusetts State Herbarium founded in 1867 by W. S. Clark, first
president of the University. The Amherst College Herbarium is one
of the oldest herbaria in the country. The herbaria include the historically
important "State Cabinet" (Massachusetts State Herbarium collected prior to
l850), the 15,000 specimen collection of W.W. Denslow (1826-1868), and the
25,000 specimen collection of Addison Brown (l830-1913) and other contributions
from R.E. Torrey and his students. More recent collections include those of
A.S. Goodale and colleagues from the Swift River Watershed, now under the
Quabbin Reservoir, and the New England collections of H.E. Ahles and
Roberta Poland. The collection is world-wide in scope due in large part to
the extensive exchange program during the time H.E. Ahles was curator
(l966-1981). The geographical areas that are particularly well represented
include New England, with an emphasis on Western Massachusetts and the
tropical Pacific (collections largely from O. Degener and A.C. Smith).
The combined herbaria at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst now have
over 206,000 mounted specimens as well as 300 type specimens and includes
vascular plants, bryophytes and algae.
The herbarium is an important regional resource because of its
international nature and because it houses a comprehensive collection of
material from New England and Western Massachusetts dating from the mid 1800's
to the present. Nationally, the herbarium provides material for systematic
studies. Locally, the herbarium provides a campus and community resource for
plant identification and information about plants. Specimens from the
collection are used in various botany courses and for reference by Cooperative
Extension agents. In the past few years, we have become increasingly important
as a resource in locating plant populations, particularly those representing
specific habitat types, or rare and endangered species.
We are currently involved in creating a database of our New England
specimens which will make the wealth of information contained our
collection more readily and widely available.
Return to Plant Biology Program
Date: March 8, 1995