United States National Herbarium (US-Botany)

The United States National Herbarium was founded in 1848, when the first collections were accessioned from the United States Exploring Expedition (50,000 specimens of 10,000 species). Current holdings total 5 million specimens, making this collection among the ten largest in the world representing about 8% of the plant collection resources of the United States. The herbarium is especially rich in type specimens (@110,000).
Contacts: Rusty Russell, Collections Manager, russellr@si.edu
Collection Type: Preserved Specimens
Management: Data snapshot of local collection database
Last Update: 6 May 2014
Digital Metadata: EML File
Collection Statistics
  • 238,399 specimen records
  • 48,651 (20%) georeferenced
  • 47,384 (20%) with images (47,384 total images)
  • 172,766 (72%) identified to species
  • 545 families
  • 4,191 genera
  • 36,612 species
  • 38,873 total taxa (including subsp. and var.)
Extra Statistics
Taxon Distribution
Taxon Distribution
  • Abildgaardia (3)
  • Becquerelia (19)
  • Bisboeckelera (20)
  • Bulbostylis (14)
  • Calyptrocarya (77)
  • Calyptrostylis (1)
  • Carex (63)
  • Cephalocarpus (1)
  • Chaetocyperus (1)
  • Cladium (2)
  • Cryptangium (4)
  • Cyperus (89)
  • Dichromena (1)
  • Diplacrum (12)
  • Diplasia (4)
  • Eleocharis (47)
  • Elynanthus (1)
  • Everardia (7)
  • Fimbristylis (16)
  • Fintelmannia (3)
  • Fuirena (4)
  • Hemicarpha (1)
  • Hypolytrum (3)
  • Isolepis (1)
  • Koyamaea (1)
  • Kyllinga (11)
  • Lagenocarpus (11)
  • Lipocarpha (1)
  • Mapania (3)
  • Mariscus (1)
  • Oreobolopsis (1)
  • Oreobolus (2)
  • Pleurostachys (4)
  • Psilocarya (1)
  • Pycreus (1)
  • Remirea (1)
  • Rhynchospora (80)
  • Scirpus (2)
  • Scleria (184)
  • Trichelostylis (2)
  • Trilepis (2)
  • Uncinia (7)
  • Zameioscirpus (1)