Herbaria with Arctic Collections

Many herbaria across North America have acquired specimens from the arctic ecozone, through field expeditions, collection exchanges, gifts, and as research vouchers.  These collections underpin all knowledge on the diversity and distribution of the Arctic flora -- they form the primary scientific record on which the Arctic Flora of Canada and Alaska will be based.  Morphological descriptions will be developed through study of herbarium specimens, and distribution maps will be based on species occurrences as documented by herbarium specimens

Many herbaria have begun to digitize their collections data and post this information to the web.  Immediate access to these data, when available, is often of great use; for example, allowing botanists to determine the locations of specimens of interest, to assess the number of Arctic specimens in a particular herbarium, and to make specific (vs. general) loan requests based on known specimens in a collection.  Many herbaria have also begun posting specimen images, which sometimes are sufficient for accurate identification or other data validation without a physical loan.  

Listed below are North American herbaria whose collections are likely to possess large numbers of specimens from the flora region.  Many of these herbaria are also members of the Canadensys Network, whose mission is to digitize and freely share the natural history specimen metadata from these institutions. Other consortia, most notably the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria, have members with significant Arctic holdings, some of these herbaria are also listed below.

In addition to these herbaria, this Scratchpad also hosts the data for two unique Arctic flora collections: The Parks Canada Western Field Unit Herbarium, and the Hermann Simmmons collection from the University of Oslo [Check back soon for an update on the Simmons Collection].


Canadian Herbaria with Arctic Collections
Acadia University (ACAD) [E.C. Smith Herbarium database]
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (DAO) [type specimens]
Bruce A. Bennett Herbarium, Yukon Government
Canadian Museum of Nature (CAN) [updated 2014 - CAN Database Online]
Fowler Herbarium, Queens (QK)
Marie-Victorin Herbarium (MT) [data available at Canadensys]
McGill University (MTMG)
Royal Alberta Museum (PMEA)
Royal BC Museum (V)
University of Alberta (ALTA) [ALTA database]
University of British Columbia (UBC) [UBC database]
University of Laval (QFA) [type specimens]
University of Guelph (OAC)
University of Manitoba (WIN) [data available at Canadensys]
University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum (TRT) [data available at Canadensys]
University of Toronto Mississauga (TRTE) [data available at Canadensys]
University of Western Ontario (UWO)
W.P. Fraser Herbarium (SASK)
US Herbaria with Arctic Collections
University of Alaska Fairbanks (ALA) [ALA database]
The University of Washington Herbarium (WTU) [WTU database]
Harvard University Herbaria (HUH) [HUH database]
New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) [C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium]
United States National Herbarium (US) [US database
International Herbaria with Arctic Collections
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) [K database]


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Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith