# Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries ## What is a Herbarium? Herbaria hold the tools for our understanding of the plant world [ Read more arrow\_circle\_right ](/pages/about) ![about](/sites/g/files/omnuum6796/files/styles/hwp_28_10__1920x685/public/herbaria/files/about2_homepage.jpg?itok=f-0yqgQ_) 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 an herbarium?](/pages/about) [Use of the Collections](/pages/collections) [Digital Collections](/pages/digital-resources) [Visitor Policy](/pages/visitor-policy) [Loan Policy](/pages/loan-policy) ## 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](/research-funding-opportunities) that are a critical component to diversifying our community. Please join us in this important work. ## Recent News [### State of the World’s Plants and Fungi ](/news/2026/06/state-worlds-plants-and-fungi) June 17, 2026 Harvard University Herbaria is one of 170+ institutions in 40 countries contributing to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s 2026 State of the World’s Plants and Fungi [PDF] report. The report explores how new technology is transforming the race to save nature... ![Digitising plants at Kew](/sites/g/files/omnuum6796/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/01.%20Digitising%20plants%20at%20Kew%20-%20CREDIT%20-%20Jeff%20Eden%20%E2%94%AC%E2%8C%90%20RBG%20Kew.jpg?h=1e53ca76&itok=vSIdrc4j) [### Collection Spotlight – Friedrich Eser’s Dysodil Fossils ](/news/2026/05/collection-spotlight-friedrich-esers-dysodil-fossils) May 08, 2026 In the spring of 2024, while deciding which portion of the HUPB collection to inventory and rehouse next, the paleo team came across a set of very unusual specimens preserved in a sediment called dysodil. These specimens were similar to paper shales –... ![Removing mold (left) and dust (right) from the surface of the specimens and the cardboard.](/sites/g/files/omnuum6796/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/4_cleaning2.jpg?itok=K8qu55VF) [### Specimen Spotlight - The Farlow "Thousand-Dollar Specimens" ](/news/2026/05/specimen-spotlight-farlow-thousand-dollar-specimens) May 01, 2026 Swedish zoologist and ethnographer Eric Georg Mjöberg, seeking sources of funding for a 1925 expedition to Borneo, approached the Farlow Herbarium for a grant in return for all specimens of cryptogams (spore-producing "plants"; this outdated category... ![specimen sheet with Cryphaea_borneensis, labels, ruler, annotations](/sites/g/files/omnuum6796/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/Cryphaea_borneensis%20-%20James%20Mitchell.jpg?h=1a6c66f4&itok=JcvC77-i) arrow\_back arrow\_forward [ More arrow\_circle\_right ](/news)