Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1101
United States
Dr. Tatyana Livshultz, Assistant Curator
Email: herbarium@ansp.org
The herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (PH) is the oldest institutional herbarium in the New World. It is one of the primary North American resources for material from 1750-1850, with some dating from as early as 1689. PH has about 1.5 million dried, pressed specimens and plays a vital role in research on plants and on the history of American botany.
In addition to curating this collection, the Botany Department staff undertakes research on plant biodiversity and evolution with an emphasis on paleotropical Apocynaceae (including Asclepiadaceae) and neotropical Polygalaceae.
The herbarium has an extensive worldwide 18th and early 19th century collections, including about 40, 000 types, a strong collection from Asian-Malesian-Pacific and Australasian regions, especially peninsular Malaysia, and from the vicinity of Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, northern Delaware, and northeastern Maryland, important historical collection of macrofossils, including 200 types, and historical collections of bryophytes, fungi, and algae. Vascular plant families particularly well-represented include Pandanaceae, Rutaceae, Cyperaceae, Polemoniaceae, and Scrophulariaceae sensu lato. The world-renowned Diatom Herbarium (ANSP) is housed and curated separately within the Academy.
Important collectors at PH are:
W. Baldwin, B. S. Barton, J. J. H. de la Billiardière, W. M. Canby, W. Clark, S. Elliott, J. M. Fogg, Jr., J. R. Forster, J. G. A. Forster, M. G. Henry, T. Horsfield, A. B. Lambert, C. F. von Ledebour, M. Lewis (PH-LC), B. Long, A. Michaux, J. S. Mill, G. H. E. Muhlenberg, T. Nuttall, N. S. Parmentier, F. W. Pennell, T. C. Porter, F. T. Pursh, C. S. Rafinesque, W. Roxburgh, J. F. Royle, A. von Schlagintweit, L. D. von Schweinitz, C. W. Short, W. Stone, E. Tuckerman, H. A. Wahl, N. Wallich, E. T. Wherry, C. L. P. Zeyher.