News

State of the World’s 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...

Collection Spotlight – Friedrich Eser’s 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 –...

Specimen Spotlight - The 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approached the Farlow Herbarium for a grant in return for all specimens of cryptogams (spore-producing "plants"; this outdated category...

Following in Fernald's Footsteps

February 11, 2026

Harvard botanist Merritt L. Fernald made many collecting trips to Virginia between 1934 & 1947 as part of his work on the 8th edition of Gray's Manual of Botany. On one occasion he wrote about Southeastern Virginia: In spite of almost complete clearing...

New Publication - The Rare, Endangered and Endemic Plants of the California Floristic Province

February 04, 2026

Senior Nomenclatural Registrar Kanchi Gandhi is co-author on a new paper out in Aliso documenting the rare, endangered, and endemic plants of the California Floristic Province (CFP), one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots known for high levels of plant...

New Publication - Genomic Analysis of Pedicularis furbishiae

January 07, 2026

Postdoctoral Fellow Dawson White has led the publication of the first reference genome and a population genomic analysis of Pedicularis furbishiae, a globally rare plant restricted to dynamic riverbank habitats along the Wolastoq (Saint John) River in...

Year in Review

December 17, 2025

The 2024-25 Academic Year was a busy one for the HUH! We welcomed a new Director, Dr. Jeannine Cavender-Bares, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Farlow, launched the IHerbSpec working group, wished some long-time staff well in their retirements, and...

New Publication - The human fingerprint of medicinal plant species diversity

November 24, 2025

Medicinal plants are an important part of both our health and cultural traditions. A new study published in Current Biology explores how human culture shapes where and how diverse medicinal plants are. The authors, including Curator of Vascular Plants...

New Publication - Next-generation specimen digitization

November 03, 2025

The International Herbarium Spectral Digitization Working Group (IHerbSpec), led by HUH Director Jeannine Cavender-Bares and HUH Research Fellow Dawson White, have published a Tansley Review in New Phytologist establishing a scalable, replicable framework...

The Glass Flowers on Atlas Obscura

October 27, 2025

The Atlas Obscura Podcast recently spoke with Jenny Brown, Collection Manager for the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants about the history of the Glass Flowers. Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-glass-flowers...

New Publication - Scientific distinctions between coca and cocaine support policy reform

October 16, 2025

HUH Research Fellow Dawson White is lead author on an article in Science urging WHO to distinguish coca from cocaine and support evidence-based reform rooted in science and culture. The authors argue that international drug laws wrongly treat the coca...

Congratulations, Jenifer!

September 30, 2025

Former HUH Research Fellow, Jenifer Lopes, has been selected as a finalist for a ScientistA Award , "recognizing the remarkable achievements of Brazilian women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at U.S. academic institutions and...