General Herbarium
Old man banksia (Banksia serrata), collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain Cook's voyage of discovery to Australasia (1769-1771).
The two million General Herbarium specimens represent a unique global resource for studying global seed plant diversity.
The collections in the General Herbarium are from all over the world except Britain and Ireland. These are found in the British and Irish Herbarium.
Pre-Linnean collections are also curated separately, in the Historical Collections.
Find a specimen
The collections are being digitised and are accessible via the Data Portal.
Specimen numbers
Specimens
2,000,000
Type specimens
110,000
Collection strengths
We hold major seed plant collections from all over the world and an estimated 110,000 nomenclaturally important type specimens.
The botanical collections are especially rich in historical material.
The General Herbarium is divided into four sections (General Herbarium I-IV), each overseen by a curator.
- General Herbarium I: Gymnosperms, 'basal' angiosperms, the monocotyledons, and non-core eudicotyledons.
- General Herbarium II: Fabids.
- General Herbarium III: Malvids and the superasterids, except for lamiids and campanulids
- General Herbarium IV: Lamiids and campanulids.
Curators
General Herbarium I
Norbert Holstein
General Herbarium II
Jacek Wajer
General Herbarium III
Jovita Yesilyurt
General Herbarium IV
Ranee Prakash
Material type
- Mainly pressed plants mounted on herbarium sheets
- Boxed 'carpological' material at the end of each order in the main collection
- A separate historical collection of seeds
- Spirit material
- Separate oversized material
- Microscopical slides
Major collections
The botanical collections are rich in historical material.
The General Herbarium includes specimens made on voyages such as those of James Cook, HMS Beagle, HMS Challenger and Parry.
Collectors
Areas of origin
The collection covers a broad geographical range with collections from:
Central America
The West Indies
Australia
The Himalayas
Europe and the Mediterranean
Macaronesia
