Lund University Botanical Museum
SE-224 78 Lund
Sweden
Håkan Wittzell
Email: hakan.wittzell@biol.lu.se
The collections of the Botanical Museum comprise 2.5 million plant specimens with a worldwide coverage. The oldest extant collection is the herbarium of Anders Jahan Retzius (1742-1821). Vascular plants, including fern allies and seed plants, make up 80 percent of the collections, which also include algae, bryophytes, fungi, and lichens. The Agardh herbarium with 50 000 specimens, contains one of the world's most important collections of algae. It was brought together by C. A. Agardh, who was a pioneer in the study of algae, and his son J. G. Agardh. The Agardh herbarium contains 6000 type specimens.
Botanical research at Lund University has focused on Northern Europe, the Mediterranean region, and Southern Africa. The most important collections of vascular plants have been gathered in Greece (H. Runemark and S. Snogerup), in North Africa (S. Murbeck), and in South Africa and Zimbabwe (T.C.E. Fries, T. Norlindh, H. Weimarck, R. Dahlgren, and A. Strid). The herbarium has also been greatly enriched by purchase and extensive exchange with other institutions. The largest acquisition is Paul Sintenis's herbarium with more than 100 000 vouchers from mainly Greece, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Puerto Rico. The Preiss herbarium from Western Australia is another notable acquisition. The museum also possesses valuable sets of plants from other parts of the world, particularly South America.
Presently, 930 000 specimens have been digitized. The databases can be searched online at http://herbarium.emg.umu.se/