Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries
What is a Herbarium?
Herbaria hold the tools for our understanding of the plant world
The Harvard University Herbaria include six collections and more than five million specimens of algae, bryophytes, fungi, and vascular plants. Together they form one of the largest university herbarium collections in the world, and the third largest herbarium in the United States. With their state-of-the art research laboratories and world class libraries, the HUH have been a centerpiece of biodiversity science since the early 1800s.
What is a herbarium? Use of the Collections Digital Collections Visitor Policy Loan Policy
Recent News
New Publication - Modern Taxonomy as the Foundation for Identifying and Managing Fungal and Fungus-Like Plant Pathogens
Pfister to Deliver Keynote Address at EMC 2026
HUH Researchers Join Imageomics FloraPalooza Hackathon
Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
The Harvard University Herbaria (HUH) community denounces all forms of racism, harassment, and discrimination. We recognize the painful legacy of prejudice in which marginalized groups, especially scientists of color, who work across plant biology and academia have been made to feel unwelcome. With our colleagues across Harvard and in the botanical science and natural history communities, we stand ready to confront systematic racism and are committed to the creation of an inclusive and welcoming community in the HUH. We commit to the creation of a society in which all individuals are valued and in which diversity is welcomed, whether in race, gender identity, age, socioeconomic background, religion, ethnicity, ability, language, sexual orientation, or veteran status. To these ends, we are engaged in a rigorous examination of our own institutional and interpersonal practices, and are committed to the ethical stewardship of the collections we hold in trust.
We particularly want to invite all scientists to take advantage of funding opportunities that are a critical component to diversifying our community. Please join us in this important work.