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Herbarium

Herbarium Collections

Explore collections of dried plant specimens, the vPlants virtual herbarium, and a searchable database of The Morton Arboretum’s living plant collections.

Content Detail

The Morton Arboretum Herbarium is a collaborative and authoritative repository of plant specimens, with collections focused on the Arboretum’s living collections, trees and plants of the Chicago region, and Arboretum research. The Herbarium welcomes scientists, horticulturists, students, and the public to tour its facilities or to study dried plant specimens.

Dried Plant Specimen Collections

The Morton Arboretum’s Herbarium houses the most complete specimen collection of dried plants of the rich and diverse flora of the Chicago region. Herbarium specimens are a crucial resource to researchers in botany, genetics, conservation ecology, restoration, and other disciplines.

Online Resources

BRAHMS is a database of the trees and plants that grow on the Arboretum’s grounds.

The vPlants virtual herbarium is a searchable online database developed by The Morton Arboretum with the Field Museum of Natural History and the Chicago Botanic Garden, and is maintained as one of many Symbiota biodiversity portals.

The Herbarium also contributes data to GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility; the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria; and the Consortium of Bryophyte Herbaria.

Specimen Handling Guidelines

Care should be taken in handling Herbarium specimens, as they have great scientific value. Learn about the risks to specimens and how they must be handled to prevent damage.

Contact the Herbarium

Email herbarium@mortonarb.org to schedule orientation training or a visit to study specimens.

Specimen Collections

The Morton Arboretum Herbarium houses five specimen collections that are used for research and limited educational purposes, known as accessioned collections.

Vascular Plant Collection

Vascular plants are plants that move water and nutrients through specialized tissues, e.g., ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.

The Vascular Plant Collection is the largest collection in the The Morton Arboretum Herbarium. Herbarium Director Andrew Hipp, PhD, curates the Vascular Plant Collection. Currently, there are over 190,000 specimens accessioned into the collection.

The Arboretum’s first vascular plant specimens were collected in July 1922, prior to the official founding of The Morton Arboretum, when Joy Morton hired Henry Teucher to make the first of the Arboretum’s Herbarium collections from the living collections of Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum.

Major Herbarium collections include genera of particular living collections or research interests (e.g., Quercus, Carex, Tilia, Ulmus, Malus); specimens collected from the Arboretum’s living collections; and wild plants of the Chicago region, native or naturalized (ca. 50% of The Morton Arboretum Herbarium’s specimens).

Lichen Collection

The Lichen Collection consists of more than 20,400 specimens, mostly from the Midwest. Herbarium affiliate Gerould Wilhelm, PhD, curates the Lichen Collection.

Bryophyte Collection

Bryophytes are a group of nonvascular plants (including mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) that do not move water and nutrients through their tissue.

The Bryophyte Collection consists of more than 1,500 specimens, mostly from the Chicago region.

Fungus Collection

The Fungus Collection consists of ca. 500 specimens from DuPage County, Illinois, USA, mostly from The Morton Arboretum.

Wood Collection

The wood collection is the Herbarium’s most recent collection. It is a rapidly-growing resource for tree science research that currently consists of ca. 500 specimens, primarily from the Arboretum’s living collections.

The Morton Arboretum’s senior scientist in forest ecology, Christy Rollinson, PhD, curates the Herbarium’s wood collection.

Online Resources

BRAHMS Online

BRAHMS Online is a database that allows you to search, browse, and learn more about the plants in The Morton Arboretum’s living collections and Herbarium.

BRAHMS Online (BOL) encompasses nearly 4,000 taxa and more than 20,000 inventoried plants and serves as a persistent record of the work of Arboretum experts dating back to 1922.

BRAHMS is a database of the trees and plants that grow on the Arboretum’s grounds.

vPlants Virtual Herbarium

The vPlants virtual herbarium is a searchable online database developed by The Morton Arboretum with the Field Museum of Natural History and the Chicago Botanic Garden, and is maintained as one of many Symbiota biodiversity portals.

Other Digital Collections

The Herbarium also contributes data to GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility; the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria; and the Consortium of Bryophyte Herbaria.