An Introduction
The
Wisconsin State Herbarium (formerly the University of Wisconsin-Madison Herbarium),
founded in 1849, is a museum collection of dried, labeled plants of state,
national and international importance, which is used extensively for taxonomic
and ecological research, as well as for teaching and public service. It contains
the world's largest collection of Wisconsin plants, about one-third of its over
1,000,000 specimens having been collected within the state. Most of the world's
floras are well represented, and the holdings from certain areas, such as the
Upper Midwest, eastern North America and western Mexico, are widely recognized
as resources of global significance.
A herbarium is a
collection of plant specimens, carefully collected, pressed and dried, that
is arranged according to an accepted system of classification and made available
for reference or various other scientific purposes. Most herbaria mount each
specimen, together with a label bearing pertinent habitat and geographic data,
on a sheet of high-quality paper and then file it into steel storage cabinets
that are both fire and insect proof. Well-kept specimens will remain useful
hundreds of years. In a very real sense, herbaria function as giant card catalogues
and nature libraries that permanently store samples of plant species that have
been gathered continually for centuries by taxonomists in their quest to identify,
name and classify all the plants on the face of the earth. Thus, herbaria are
priceless storehouses of information, indispensable to an understanding of the
earth's biodiversity.
The Herbarium fulfills all of these functions. Bearing in mind its continuous
use as a reference collection for making and verifying identifications, we have
enlisted hundreds of taxonomic specialists the world over to obtain
authoritative determinations for our specimens. The Herbarium also functions
as a depository for specimens that document research projects carried out by
the staff and students of the UW-Madison and other state agencies, such as the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The specimens of the UW Herbarium
are used extensively in the training of advanced undergraduates and graduate
students in systematics, ecology, and related fields. The importance of the
UW-Madison Herbarium to the State of Wisconsin was recognized in 1995 when it was designated at the official "Wisconsin State Herbarium" by the
Wisconsin Legislature (1995SB160) and Govennor.
Certain plant groups and geographic regions have been the long-term focus of
UW-Madison research. Thus, Solanum (potato, tomato, nightshade), Zea
(corn), Capparacae (Caper Family), violets, magnolias, aquatic plants, parasitic
fungi and arctic lichens are especially well-represented and form the basis
of many published papers, monographs, books and regional floras. Active far
beyond what might be expected from its size and budget, the Herbarium serves
as the basis for several major, long-term floristic and distributional projects,
such as the world famous flora of the Sierra
de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve. The recent (2003) donation of the
40,000-50,000 specimen wood collection from the U.S.D.A. forest Product Library
is a world reknowned collection, and has increased the international significance
of the herbarium's holdings.
More important for Wisconsin is the role we have played, and are continuing
to play, in furthering the knowledge of Wisconsin's flora. For example, recent technical publications co-authored by the UW Herbarium staff include
Spring Woodland Wildflowers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum,
Lichens of Wisconsin, Atlas of the Wisconsin prairie and savanna flora and
Checklist of the vascular plants of Wisconsin.
Besides housing the Vascular Plant, Lichen, Parasitic Fungi, and Bryophyte
herbaria and Herbarium Library, all of which are heavily used,
the UW systematics section space contains offices, work and drier rooms and cytotaxonomic
and biosystematic laboratories. The Herbarium Library is a specialized collection
of books, journals, and especially reprints, over 120,000 items in all. Microfiche
sets of important plant collections, significant archival material related to
Wisconsin botany, and an eclectic collection of nearly 10,000 maps, atlases,
gazetteers and related materials aid the taxonomic researcher. University
botanists have access to the departmental greenhouses and garden,
the UW Arboretum and
the UW Biotron, an outstanding controlled
environment facility.
The role that the Herbarium has played since 1849 reflects the increasing
needs, responsibilities and problems facing natural history museums in general,
and herbaria in particular. Nonetheless, Herbarium staff and students have
continually enlarged and improved the collection, thus contributing to science
and the welfare of the state of Wisconsin, and so informed the world at large
of the crucial and indispensable role that taxonomy and herbaria must play in
trying to find the elusive solutions to today's environmental and economic problems.
University of Wisconsin - Madison | Department
of Botany | Wisconsin
State Herbarium
Last updated
June 29, 2004
The
Wisconsin State Herbarium (formerly the University of Wisconsin-Madison Herbarium),
founded in 1849, is a museum collection of dried, labeled plants of state,
national and international importance, which is used extensively for taxonomic
and ecological research, as well as for teaching and public service. It contains
the world's largest collection of Wisconsin plants, about one-third of its over
1,000,000 specimens having been collected within the state. Most of the world's
floras are well represented, and the holdings from certain areas, such as the
Upper Midwest, eastern North America and western Mexico, are widely recognized
as resources of global significance.