Seed plant collections

The Natural History Museum’s 3 million seed plant specimens represent a unique, global resource for the scientific community and society as a whole.

The collections have a broad geographical coverage. Geographical strengths include:

the British Isles
Central America
the West Indies
Australia
the Himalayas
the Balearic Islands
Macaronesia
Iberia
Greece

Other strengths are our major collections and the high number of nomenclaturally important type specimens that we hold - some 110,000.

We also have numerous important historical collections. Our earliest collections date from the 17th century and, following the foundation of the British Museum in 1753 whose natural history collections grew into the Natural History Museum, new material has been continuously added.

For some groups and geographical areas these collections represent an important time series that can be used to look at changes in climate and vegetation.

The Museum’s Palaeontology Department holds an important collection of fossil plants.

Visit the Palaeontology Department

Seed plant collection statistics

Find out details of the numbers of specimens and preparation types in the Museum's seed plant collections.
Major seed plant collections

Find out about some of the major seed plant collections held by the Museum.
Collection management and curation

Learn more about how the Museum's seed plant collections are curated.
Seed plants in the Darwin Centre

Find out about major changes to the seed plant collections that have been made possible by their move to purpose-built accommodation.