Index of Botanical Specimens

Of the over 5 million specimens in the Harvard University Herbaria, over 230,000 have records in the Specify 6 database system of which about 100,000 correspond to type specimens of vascular plants and mosses. Also included are fungi, lichens, bryophytes, and algae.

Disclaimer: This is a new (2011) interface over recently migrated data. Both the interface and the data are under review. Please feel free to report any issues that you observe with the data through our comments and corrections form.

Databases

Specimen quick-search
Genus Family/higher taxon
Specific epithet Infraspecific epithet
Author Year published
 Types only Type status
Collector Collector no.
Country Year Collected
Location %% Substrate
Habitat Host
Images with images only Previous ownership %%
Barcode

Fields marked with a percentage sign [%] perform wildcard searches automatically. Other fields do an exact match search unless wildcards * or % are added. Searches are case and accented character insenstive. Searching on collector 'c. j. muller' will find specimens collected by 'C. J. Müller'.

Wildcards can be entered anywhere within a name. Entering a wildcard before a name indicates uncertainty about the beginning of the name. Entering a wildcard after the name indicates uncertainty about its ending. Wildcards within a name can be used when e.g. the correct spelling is unknown. The % and * are equivalent wildcards that match any number of characters. The underscore can be used as a wildcard to match any one character. Some search terms (e.g. collector, habitat, substrate, host) will return ssuggestions for similar searches if no matching results are found.

For plant names, enter search keys in any combination to qualify the name: family/higher taxon, genus, specific epithet, and infraspecific epithet. Results are inclusive, so it is possible to search for all specimens in a genus, for example. Searching for types only will include type specimens whose basionym corresponds to the search parameters.

For type specimens, select the kind of type from ‘type status’ or use the collective term ‘any type’ to search across all types. Enter a collector's name in any form. For location, enter any part of a possible locality string.

The Specimen quick-search will do a free text search and return up to the 100 most relevant results for the terms you provide.

If a barcode number is entered, all other search parameters will be ignored. Barcode searches are exact match only, but don't need leading zeroes.

In search results, square brackets [ ] indicate entries made by the cataloger that do not necessarily reflect data present on the specimen labels.

Some examples of wildcards in searches:

  • %Muller matches 'J. Bornmüller'; 'C. H. Muller'; 'C. J. Müller'; and 'I. M. Johnston & C. H. Muller', but not 'C. H. Muller & J. M. Tucker'.
  • C. H. Muller% matches 'C. H. Muller'; 'C. H. Muller & J. M. Tucker'; 'C. H. Muller & L. C. Hinckley' and 'C. H. Muller & M. T. Muller', but not 'I. M. Johnston & C. H. Muller'.
  • %Muller% matches 'C. H. Muller'; 'C. H. Muller & J. M. Tucker'; 'C. H. Muller & L. C. Hinckley' and 'I. M. Johnston & C. H. Muller'.
  • C%M_ller matches both C. E. Miller and C. H. Muller