University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Biology Department
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-5810
United States
Fax: [1] 413/ 545-3243
Web: http://informatics.bio.umass.edu/museum/herbarium
Karen Searcy, Curator
Email: ksearcy@bio.umass.edu
The University of Massachusetts Herbarium, Amherst, is a regional resource with approximately 224,000 mounted vascular plants, algae and bryophtyes as well as a fruit and seed collection. The collection is world wide in scope due in large part to an extensive exchange program during the time H. E. Ahles was curator (1966-1981), but the focus is on Western Massachusetts and New England. Other well represented geographical areas include Eastern North America and the tropical pacific (Collections largely from O. Degener and A. C. Smith).
Historically important collections include the State Cabinet (The Massachusetts State Herbarium collected prior to 1850, the 15,000 specimen collection of W. W. Denslow (1826-1868) and the 25,000 specimen collection of Addison Brown (1830-1913). The latter collection has specimens collected by Pringle, Parish, J. T. Howell and A. A. Heller and includes many types.
Collections of local interest include those of A. S. Goodale and colleagues from the Swift River Watershed, much of which is now under the Quabbin Reservoir, the New England collections of H. E. Ahles and the collection from Deerfield and adjacent towns by Roberta G. Poland.
Incorporated herbaria include Amherst College Herbarium (AC), started in 1829 by Professor Edward Hitchcock and one of the oldest herbaria in the country,and the recently acquired (1998) Phippen-LaCroix Herbarium (TUFT).