Collections

    A herbarium is a museum of preserved plants that are used for botanical research. Each herbarium specimen is made up of a dried plant, mounted on archival paper, and affixed with a label providing descriptive data. Herbaria across the globe provide a permanent record of the diversity of the Earth's flora.

     

    The BRIT Herbarium

    Over one million plant specimens are housed in the BRIT Herbarium (the combined BRIT-SMU and VDB collections), making this the largest independent herbarium in the southeastern US.  The herbarium has strengths in the plants of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, the Gulf Coast, and the southeastern United States.  However, these collections are worldwide in scope, and most of the Earth’s plant families are represented here.  Two of our current research projects, one in Peru and one in Papua New Guinea, have greatly expanded the scope of our collection of tropical specimens...read more

     

    Acquisitions, Loans, & Exchanges

    The BRIT Herbarium grows through the active exchange of plant material with other institutions, the acquisition of orphaned or donated herbaria, and donations of plant material by independent botanical collectors...read more.

    Digitization Activities

    The BRIT herbarium is in the process of imaging key specimens at high resolution, and converting textual and graphical elements on a sheet into a digital format that can more easily lend itself to data analysis and synthesis...read more

     

    Plant Collection and Preservation

    Plant collections should be made in such a manner as to increase their longevity as preserved herbarium specimens, as well as optimize their usefulness for future research...read more.

    Research Emphasizing the Collections

    The herbarium provides a source of primary material and specimens are cited in many publications to serve as evidence for scientific research...read more.

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