The Welsh National Herbarium

ABSTRACT

The Welsh National Herbarium is the most important collection of herbarium specimens in Wales, and the third most important in the United Kingdom. Originating over a century ago, its expansion during the 20^th century reflects the growth in awareness of the significance of plant sciences in Wales. Located in Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, the Herbarium contains over three-quarters of a million specimens of vascular plants, bryophytes, algae and fungi, with particular strengths in the Welsh flora, and in Hieracium, Taraxacum, Rubus, Sorbus, bryophytes (including the British Bryological Society herbarium), lichens, and biocultural items. There are also substantial collections of botanical illustrations, stamps, photographs, rare books, wax models, and exsiccatae. Staff are involved in active research, and educational and outreach programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Herbarium
• Wales
• collection history
• curation
• conservation
• pest management

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Jennifer Evans (AC–NMW Library) for information on C. M. Green, and to James Turner (AC–NMW Department of Natural Sciences) for help with some of the illustrations. Figure 2B is reproduced with permission of the University of Leicester (Special Collections & Archives).

Disclosure statement

At the time of writing, all authors were full-time employees of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.

Data availability

All data referred to in this paper are publicly available at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK).

Author contributions

All co-authors have been involved in the writing of this paper.