Herbarium Collections

The herbarium contains more than 3.1 million herbarium specimens of plants and fungi (1 720 000 vascular plants, 580 000 bryophytes, 21 000 algae, 380 000 lichenized fungi, 350 000 other fungi; annual increase is ca. 25 000 specimens). The collections make up the national herbarium of Finland. About a half of them have been collected in Finland. However, the collections are worldwide: in addition to Finland and the neighbouring areas well represented are the Mediterranean, East Africa and southern South America, among others. Extensive and important new collections of bryophytes and fungi derive from East and Southeast Asia.

The material is mainly from the mid-1800s and more recent, because the collections of the Academy of Turku, forerunner of the Helsinki University, were destroyed in a fire in 1827. However, part of the Academy material survived, and the present collections include c. 15 000 sheets of this old material, e.g. ca. 80 Linnaean specimens. As to the phanerogams, most important is Christian Steven's herbarium, mainly collected in the Caucasus Mts. and Crimea. Among the bryophytes, the herbarium includes V. F. Brotherus' and S. O. Lindberg's collections very important to the bryology of tropical areas and China. The lichen collections of Erik Acharius, the "Father of Lichenology", and William Nylander include significant materials from all over the world. P. A. Karsten’s fungus collections are also basic.

• Type specimens of lichens and vascular plants (JSTOR) – specimens have been digitized from our museum's collections

Phanerogams

• Linnaean specimens in the Botanical Museum

Cryptogams

• History of bryophyte collections in H and Finnish Bryologists

The collections of the museum consist of ca. 700 000 specimens of mosses, liverworts, and algae, and, due to richness in type specimens of bryophytes, are one of the most significant collections in the world.

• Brotherus Herbarium (H-BR) – extra-European collection of V. F. Brotherus (1849-1929) includes 83 000 moss specimens of 15 500 species and thousands of type specimens. Strong in Australia, Brazil, Caucasia, China, India, New Zealand, Patagonia. Important collections, e.g.: H. v. Handel-Mazzetti, K. Müller (Müll.Hal.), W.W. Watts, E. Ule.
• Herbarium Lindberg (H-SOL) – collection of S.O. Lindberg (1835-1889) includes 48 000 specimens of 5 000 moss and liverwort species and hundreds of type specimens. Worldwide.
• Herbarium Generale – ca. 300 000 specimens. Worldwide; strong in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Scandinavia, Siberia, Taiwan, Tanzania, U.S.A., W. Europe. Plenty of recently collected specimens due to active specimen exchange with other herbariums and excursions especially to tropical areas. Important collections, e.g.: H. Buch, T. J. Koponen, R. Tuomikoski.
• Herbarium Fennoscandiae orientalis - ca. 200 000 specimens. Finland, northwestern Russia.
• Algae Collection - 20 000 specimens.

Fungi

• Lichen exsiccatae at H
• Collectors and Collecting Areas
• Herbarium W. Nylander Collectors Index

The fungal collections at the Botanical Museum (H) are invaluable. They house altogether 400 000 species of lichen-forming fungi and 390 000 other fungi. These numbers include the separate lichen collections of E. Acharius (H-ACH; 5500 specimens) and W. Nylander (H-NYL; 52 000 specimens) as well as the collections of P.A. Karsten. A recent addition of Herb. A. Henssen will increase the number of lichens by ca. 40 000 specimens, and the estimate of backlog collections is currently ca. 60 000 specimens. Collections worth mentioning are also, for instance, slime molds, rust fungi, smut fungi, powdery mildews and downy mildews; these include numerous type specimens. Altogether, our fungal collections are estimated to include ca. 20 000 type specimens. We also have ca. 260 series of exsiccatae, of which 160 are lichens and 100 other fungi. These are separately kept in part but mostly incorporated in the collections.