Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
D-70191 Stuttgart
Germany
Mike Thiv
Email: thiv.smns@naturkundemuseum-bw.de
The Herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Stuttgart contains approximately 900,000 specimens, including (numbers are approximate) 500,000 flowering plants, 80,000 ferns, 127,000 mosses and liverworts, 100,000 lichens, and 100,000 fungi. The oldest specimens date back to 1743, when J. G. Gmelin and the horticulturist A. W. Martini from Tübingen travelled through Siberia on behalf of the Russian Tsar. Martini busily collected plant material and some of these more than 250-year-old specimens came to the Royal Natural History Collection, predecessor of the present Museum. The Herbarium is the home of some extensive, old, private collections, such as those of F. Hegelmaier, R. Gradmann, K. Bertsch, G. von Martens, A. Mayer, and K. Müller, who collected mostly in the Württemberg region, but also travelled more widely. Further valuable collections have been added more recently. In addition, voucher material from the scientific studies of botanists is deposited in the Herbarium and is accessible for further studies or revision.