About the Herbarium
The herbarium at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, abbreviated as "S", has several sub-collections, the most important of which are the two vascular herbariums (international and Nordic herbaria), the moss herbarium, the fungal and lichen collection and the algal collection.
In addition, the herbarium has some smaller collections, including palynological slides of pollen and spores, microscopic algae, and the historically important Linnaean collection with about 4,500 specimens. Herbarium S also has one of the world's largest collection of name-carrying specimens, known as type material, with more than 110,000 types.
A large portion of our collections, with the exception of bacteria and microalgae, is searchable in our Herbarium Catalogue
External link..
The Herbarium can not be physically visited by our museum audience.
Generally
Our botanical and mycological collections have their origins in the Royal Academy of Sciences' Natural History Cabinet from 1739. Over the years, the collections have grown through field collections, exchanges and acquisitions to more than 4.4 million specimens, representing almost 290,000 species from all over the world.
Algae
The algae collection consists of approximately 6,500 species (including cyanobacteria, formerly called blue-green algae) gathered under 94,000 specimens. Some of the most important collectors are Per Teodor Cleve, Astrid Cleve von Euler, Frans Kjellman and Carl Skottsberg.
Bacteria
The bacteria collection is one of our smallest collections with only 72 items collected between 1827 and 1932. For historical and practical reasons, the cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are included in the algae collection.
Vascular plants
The vascular plants, which include ferns, lycopods, conifers and flowering plants, are arranged in two herbaria: International and Nordic herbaria. In total, we have specimens from more than 150,000 vascular plant species.
International Vascular Plants
The International Vascular Plant Herbarium holds around 1.5 million plants from all over the world. Scientifically important collections have been gathered by prominent botanists such as Erik Asplund, Johann Franz Drège, Christian Friedrich Ecklon, Erik L. Ekman, Eric Hultén, Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt, Johann Georg Christian Lehmann, Carl AM Lindman, Christian Luerssen, Gustaf A. Malme, Bertil Nordenstam, Anders Fredrik Regnell, Otto Wilhelm Sonder, Benkt Sparre, Olof P. Swartz and Karl Zeyher. In addition, there is historical material collected by Linné's disciples such as Pehr Osbeck, Anders Sparrman, and Carl Peter Thunberg.
Nordic Herbarium
The Nordic Herbarium holds more than 1 million vascular plant specimens collected in the Nordic countries, especially Sweden. Since the herbarium material represents collections from many different places over time, morphological variation, phenology and climate change can be revealed by studies of our collections. For example, it is possible to get an idea of a species distribution in earlier times compared with today, which is usually mapped by various flora projects for different provinces.
The collections are also important as a source of cultural-historical knowledge because they contain plants collected by Lars Levi Laestadius, Pehr Osbeck, Sten Selander and several other famous botanists.
Lichens
The lichen herbarium includes approximately 9,000 species, represented by some 300,000 specimens. Some famous collectors are Sten Ahlner, Torsten Hasselrot, Gustaf O.A. Malme, Rolf Santesson and Anders Tehler. The herbarium also holds important historical collections by, among others, Olof Swartz and Erik Acharius.
The Linnaean Herbarium
The Linnaean herbarium at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm is only a fraction of the specimens compared to what was sold to England. The remaining specimens consists of roughly 4,500 herbarium sheets, several of which are type material selected by various experts.
Several specimens were given by Carl von Linné to his disciples and a large number of these eventually ended up in the collections of the Royal Academy of Sciences, which later became the foundation of the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
The largest part of Carl von Linné's former herbarium collection is today at The Linnean Society of London,
Mosses
The moss collection consists of approximately 90,000 species, represented by 720,000 specimens. Important collectors are Per Dusén, Lars Hedenäs, Conrad Kindberg, Johann Georg Christian Lehmann, Karl Müller (Friburg), Herman Persson, Georg Roth, Olof Swartz and Johan Ångström.
The palynological collection
The palynological laboratory was founded in 1948 by Gunnar Erdtman who became its first manager. The collections with more than 25,000 microscopic slides belong now to the herbarium, while the pollen activity is at Nature and Environmental Monitoring Department at the same museum.
Fungi
The fungal collection consists of approximately 32,000 species, represented by 370,000 specimens. This does not include the lichen-forming fungi that are stored in the lichen herbarium. Important collectors are Giacomo Bresadola, Paul Dietel, Paul Hennings, Nils Lundqvist, Heinrich Rehm, Lars Romell, and Paul and Hans Sydow (before 1919).