United States National Arboretum, USDA-ARS
3501 New York Avenue, NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
United States
Web: https://usna.usda.gov/science/herbarium/
Dr. Harlan Svoboda, Curator
Tel: (202) 245-2715
Email: Harlan.Svoboda@usda.gov
The herbarium of the United States National Arboretum is a mission critical collection of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and contains over 800,000 preserved vascular plant specimens. The collection traces its roots back to the 1890s as the USDA’s “Economic Collection” of the Bureau of Plant Industry and was formally established in 1934 as the Department’s core repository for the documentation of plant introductions, exploration, and cultivated ornamental development. The herbarium now resides on the grounds of the U.S. National Arboretum.
The collection has a worldwide representation, with foci on the vascular flora of the southeastern United States and of Asia. Some families and genera that are especially well represented include Acer, Asteraceae, Buxus, Fabaceae, Hemerocallis, Ilex, Pinaceae, Poaceae, Quercus, Rhododendron, Rosaceae, Salix, Solanaceae, and Viburnum. Approximately 25-30% of the collection is of cultivated origin from across the globe.
Materials of Special Interest
- Cultivated, ornamental, landscape, economic, and ethnobotanical plant specimens
- Progenitors of cultivated plants
- 2,000+ cultivar standard specimens
- USDA plant introduction vouchers
- National Plant Germplasm System vouchers
- Part of the Isaac C. Martindale herbarium
- Part of the Biltmore herbarium
- Part of the Catholic University of America herbarium (LCU), including types
- Part of the Morris Arboretum herbarium (MOAR), including many types