The Herbarium's collection was established in 1837.[1]Asa Gray was appointed Professor of Botany and Zoology in 1838.[5] Collections were moved to the Main Building (later Mason Hall) in 1841.[5] The first published research paper based on the university's botanical holdings came in 1877, when a paper by Professor Mark W. Harrington was published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.[5][6]
MycologistAlexander H. Smith spent his entire career at the University of Michigan Herbarium, and was its longtime director.
In 1982, the museum marked its 60th anniversary; by that time, the herbarium had "grown from a modest collection of plants to become one of the largest university herbariums in the nations."[7]
Collections
Among the 1.7 million specimens held by the herbarium are:[8]
96,000 specimens of algae – "includes much material from classical
exsiccate sets, including the Phycotheca Boreali-Americana of about 45
folios and W. H. Harvey's specimens from
Australia,
Ceylon, and the
Friendly Islands," as well as "the former personal herbaria of W. R. Taylor and M. J. Wynne, the basis for much of their work on the
systematics and
floristics of
seaweeds."[8]
163,000 specimens of bryophytes – including many from W. C. Steere, R. Schuster, and H. Crum. "The best representation is from eastern North America, especially the
Great Lakes area, but the collection has significant material from Europe, Japan, Central America, northern South America, and the
West Indies. The holdings in Mexican mosses are especially rich." I. Schnooberger gave a singifcant give of 8,000 specimens of bryophytes of the Great lakes region in 1985.[8]
280,000 specimens of fungi – A collection "extraordinarily strong in North American
higher fungi, with, among others, the collections of A. H. Smith (
agarics,
boletes, and
gastromycetes), C. H. Kauffman (agarics), D. Baxter (
polypores), R. L. Shaffer (agarics), and R. Fogel (
hypogeous fungi). Material on which the taxonomic studies of E. B. Mains, on the
Uredinales, insecticolous fungi, and
Geoglossaceae, and of B. Kanouse, on
discomycetes are largely based is in the collection, as are many of L. E. Wehmeyer's
pyrenomycetous fungi. The personal herbarium of F. K. Sparrow, which contains mostly specimens of the
parasiticgeneraPhysoderma and
Urophlyctis as well as a
microscope-slide collection of
aquatic fungi, is also included."[8] Phyllis Kempton, the well-known mycologist who studied
Alaska mushrooms with her research partner Virginia Wells for nearly 45 years, bequeathed her huge collection to the Herbarium after her death in 2001.[9]
57,000 specimens of lichens – "The prime importance of the lichen collection derives from the fact that it includes the herbarium of
Bruce Fink, upon which his Lichen Flora of the United States is largely based. Many of Fink's specimens were compared with type material in European herbaria by the leading
lichenologist of the time,
Alexander Zahlbruckner. The lichen herbarium has a good representation from most parts of the United States and southern Canada and also from
Puerto Rico and
British Honduras. Michigan is well covered by the collections of J. Lowe, H. Imshaug, C. Wetmore, and R. Harris, and the
Rocky Mountains by those of E. B. Mains, A. H. Smith, and H. Imshaug. Exchange has resulted in an abundance of European specimens, making the herbarium a good research and reference resource. About 10,000 specimens in the lichen collection have been studies by
thin-layer chromatography, with the data obtained recorded on their packets."[8]
1.1 million specimens of vascular plants – the herbarium's largest collection. "In
pteridophytes, the (
Edwin Copeland) herbarium gives the collection great strength from eastern Asia and the southwestern Pacific region; indeed, we probably have the western hemisphere's best collection of
ferns from
southeastern Asia.
Hawaii is exceptionally well represented, and coverage of continental United States is excellent, partly due to the acquisition of the
American Fern Society herbarium; the North American collections of W. H. Wagner are another strength of the collection."[8]