Botany Collections

The plant collections of the Smithsonian Institution began with the acquisition of specimens collected by the United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842). These formed the foundation of a national herbarium which today numbers 4.8 million historical plant records, placing it among the world's largest and most important.

Nearly 800,000 specimen records (including over 90,000 type specimens) are currently available in this online catalog. Images for the type specimens are available in our Type Specimen Register.

Search the Botany Collections

Key word searches on selected fields can be performed in the search box below. Detailed Searches on values on specific fields are available through the link below. If you don't know what you want to see, you may want to look at the sample records in the 'Quick Browse' section to the right. Searches are limited to 2000 records and the results are sorted by taxonomic group. If you need to retrieve a larger record set, contact the Department of Botany's Collections Manager.

Quick Search

Find: anywhere in taxonomy in locations in people

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