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Iowa's Herbaria

Iowa's herbaria are important resources both to the state and to the larger "botanical community". The two-thirds of a million or so specimens contained in Iowa's herbaria are used in various ways for research, teaching, plant identification, and supplying general information about plants. Iowa's larger herbaria are part of a global network, making possible loans, exchanges, and other interactions with herbaria around the world. While Iowa's herbaria contain specimens from many parts of the United States and the world, collectively they house the most complete record of Iowa plants and fungi. The following information is from Index Herbariorum: The Herbaria of the World (1990) - some of the information is available (and cited here) in a more recently updated online database at nybg.org/bsci/ih/.

Institution

Date
founded

Number of
specimens (2020)

Contact person

Cornell College (MOVC) 1967 1,500 Marty Condon
MCondon@cornellcollege.edu
319-895-4154
Drake University 1958 3400 Tom Rosburg
thomas.rosburg@drake.edu
515-271-2920
Grinnell College (GRI) 1900 20,000 Vince Eckhart
515-269-3028
Iowa State University (ISC)
www.herbarium.iastate.edu
1870 655,000 (including IA) Deb Lewis
dlewis@iastate.edu
515-294-9499
Iowa Lakeside Laboratory (ILH) 1909 6,000 Lori Biederman
lbied@iastate.edu
515-294-2488
Luther College (LCDI) 1968 1,000

Beth Lynch
lynchbet@luther.edu

Putnam Museum (BDI)
www.putnam.org
1867 18,750 Christine Chandler
cchandler@putnam.org
563-336-7287
Simpson College (SICH) 1956 500 William Gilbert
515-961-1823
University of Iowa (IA)
(transferred to ISC in 2004)
1878 220,000 Deb Lewis
dlewis@iastate.edu
515-294-9499
University of Northern Iowa
(ISTC)
  49,000 Steve O’Kane
steve.okane@uni.edu
319-273-2219

Upper Iowa University (UIU)

 

 

Wartburg College (WET)

1857

 

 

1930

3,000

 

 

3,000

Scott Figdore
figdores@uiu.edu
563-425-5223


Johanna Foster
johannafoster@wartburg.edu
319-353-8708