Louisiana State University Herbarium

Founded in 1869, the Louisiana State University (LSU) Herbarium is the oldest collection of preserved plant specimens in the Gulf South and is the second largest collection of Louisiana plants. Originally composed entirely of specimens of vascular plants, it now also includes fine collections of lichens and fungi. In all, the LSU Herbarium contains ca. 180,000 specimens, with over 40,000 lichens (the largest lichen collection in the Gulf Region) and ca. 25,000 fungi (the second-largest collection of its kind in this region). The fungal collection is rich in Neotropical wood-decaying fungi, and Gulf Coast lichens are well represented. The LSU Herbarium is an essential resource for research, teaching, and public service, including the study of the wildflowers of Louisiana, the ecology of Louisiana marshes, the medicinal plants of the Gulf South, the environmental impact assessment in Louisiana, and the conservation of tropical rain forests.

In 1992, herbarium personnel started a project to separate out the historical material (probably about 3,300 specimens) from the main herbarium. The phases and objectives were:

1) review the entire herbarium sheet by sheet and remove specimens which are deemed to be of historical importance (including all nineteenth-century material from Louisiana and adjoining states)

2) determine for each specimen who collected it, where, and when and attach new labels

3) repair and strengthen specimen mountings.

Today, the historical collection is organized and stored separately from the main collection where it will remain available for study yet receive less wear and tear than the specimens in the main herbarium.

Materials contributed by Louisiana State University Herbarium (LSU):

• Specimens