Augustine Henry
Augustine Henry was one of the first and most prolific western botanists to collect in Central China,…
Violetta White
Violetta Susan Elizabeth White Delafield (1875–1949) was a promising young mycologist at the…
Jeanne Baret
CollectorsWomen in ScienceExpeditions
Jeanne Baret was the first woman ever to circumnavigate the globe, but…
Before & After: P. F. Zika 28277
The unmounted herbarium specimen, as it arrived at the garden in the…
Fabian Michelangeli's field trip to Cuba, November 2013
A recent expedition to eastern Cuba took three Cuban colleagues and me…
Mushroom Paintings
When mycologists collect mushrooms or other fungal fruiting bodies, it's important to…
Alice Eastwood
Alice Eastwood was a self-taught Canadian-American botanist. After graduating from high school…
Newspaper time capsule: B. Maguire 23559
A trip to the field isn't always necessary to describe a new…
The Lemmons: Partners in Botany
Sara Plummer met John Gill Lemmon in 1876 when he came to…
Jean Baptiste François Bulliard
Jean Baptiste François Bulliard was French physician and botanist, especially interested in fungi.…
W. A. Murrill
William Murrill became an assistant curator at NYBG in 1904, and was…
Three Thousand Miles up the Amazon
At the age of 61, Ynés Mexía embarked on the adventure of…
Ellen's Types
Among many of the interesting things Ellen Hutchins collected were collections that…
Ellen's Illustrations
We know Ellen Hutchins produced hundreds of detailed watercolors of marine algae. Some…
Becoming a mountain woman
Marie Mooar spent a lot of time in the wilds of western…
Pitcher Plants
Pitcher Plants sometimes attract insects to their specialized leaves with nectar or…
Sundews
Sundews. Drosera is the largest genus of carniverous plants, with almost 200…
Journey of the US Exploring Expedition (1838-1842)
One of the earliest and most impactful scientific expeditions led by the…
Venus flytrap
Even though Venus Fly Traps are widely available as cultivated plants, they…
Art Cronquist's Hat
If you spend time looking at herbarium specimens collected by Arthur Cronquist,…
Plant species named after Alice Eastwood
Several botanists have honored Eastwood's contributions to science by naming new plant…
Weird & Wild Legumes
Cabinet of CuriositiesSpecimen Stories
Members of plant family Fabaceae (bean or legume family) produce a kind…
Royal Collector
Cabinet of CuriositiesCollectors
Prince Henri of Orléans, a French royal, collected this parasitic fungi in Tibet while…
Mary Emily Eaton
Mary Emily Eaton was an accomplished natural history illustrator employed at the…
What is a type specimen?
When a researcher names a new species of algae, fungi, or plant,…
Typical: Hibiscadelphus stellatus
This type specimen is like a postcard from Hawaii reading "Wish you…
Prairie White Fringed Orchid
Nearly all of the habitat of the endangered Prairie White Fringed Orchid…
Damaged by enemy action
Herbarium specimens are windows into the past and can help us answer…
Good grief, Charles Geyer
Charles (Karl) A. Geyer was a pioneer botanical collector of the Northwestern…
A trip to Fire Island with Peggy Hopkins
While we might not get to summer with the likes of Madonna…
Typical: Astragalus cusickii var. packardiae
Covered in flower dissection illustrations by Rupert Barneby — we should all…
Women's Scientific Empowerment
Natural history was immensely popular in the Victorian era, but women were…
Smooth rock tripe
This Umbilicaria species is regarded to be one of the largest lichens…
Fig family, Moraceae
Ficus carica L., the edible common fig has been cultivated for millenia.…
Mary Treat
Those who have read Barbara Kingsolver's newest novel, Unsheltered, will be familiar with the…
Banded Mottlegill
This mushroom was called 'weed Panaeolus' because it would frequently grow as…
Christmas Lichen
Specimen StoriesCabinet of Curiosities
This bright-colored lichen is called the 'Christmas Lichen' because of its bright…
Some Algae of Nova Scotia
Although the bulk of specimens that find their way into the New…
Lettuce Lichen
Similar to the Old Man’s Beard, Lungwort lichens can only thrive in…
Madagascar periwinkle
Commonly known as Madagascar periwinkle, this member of the dogbane family has…
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver (1860s–1943) was an inventor, teacher, botanist, and mycologist (a…
Lavender
Lavender has been used in traditional medicine for centuries for its soothing…
Pertusaria andersoniae
Specimen StoriesWomen in Science
Some of our herbarium specimens are of incredibly rare species. This is…
Corpse Flower
Another famous plant in the Araceae family is the Titan Arum or…
Air plants
Specimen StoriesFocus on Science
The little air plant in your house that you mist every day could…
Giant puffball
This spectacular giant puffball can be found in meadows, fields and forests…