herbarium

American  

[hur-bair-ee-uhm, ur-] / hɜrˈbɛər i əm, ɜr- /

noun

• herbariums,
  plural
• herbaria
  plural

1. a collection of dried plants systematically arranged.

2. a room or building in which such a collection is kept.

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herbarium British  

/ hɜːˈbɛərɪəm /

noun

1. a collection of dried plants that are mounted and classified systematically

2. a building, room, etc, in which such a collection is kept

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• herbarial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• herbaria
  plural
• herbariums
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of herbarium

1770–80; < Late Latin, equivalent to Latin herb ( a ) herb, green vegetation + -ārium -arium

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Explanation

A herbarium is a collection of preserved plants. Think of it as a library of herbs. A herbarium can be something as simple as that book of pressed flowers you made at summer camp, or as complex as a building that holds case after case of flowers soaked in formaldehyde, dried moss stored in archival quality envelopes, and cones from conifers organized in boxes. Find these larger collections at universities, botanical gardens, and natural history museums.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

herbarium herbaria herbariums

The herbarium at RAU, not only includes specimens from 1797, but many picked from in and around the Gloucestershire area.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

Rousseau’s unfinished, unstructured “Reveries” resembles the herbarium in which he gathered a botanical record of his daily walks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

Dr. Gillespie and her team also examined over 300 existing herbarium specimens from the park area, most of which were collected in 1950, the last time botanists intensively studied this part of Baffin Island.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024

The alliance, along with six other scientific societies, endorsed a petition asking Duke to reconsider closing the herbarium.

From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2024

The scientists and librarians still collect their keys in the mornings, still study their ancient elephants’ teeth, their exotic jellyfish, their herbarium sheets.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

New techniques that allow scientists to key into specific regions of DNA and stitch together fragments have opened the door to sequencing herbaria samples—and made the new study possible.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 23, 2024

This intensive fieldwork resulted in over a thousand new specimens deposited at the National Herbarium of Canada at the Canadian Museum of Nature and other herbaria worldwide.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024

Meanwhile, Cheek said he's publishing more and more new plant species from undescribed herbaria specimens that are likely already extinct in the wild.

From Salon ● May 31, 2023

“There are undoubtedly more undescribed extinct species sitting in herbaria, collected 100 years ago.”

From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2020

The former is best for private and small herbaria; the latter for large ones which are much turned over.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Asa Gray

Mr. Muñoz-Rodríguez and his colleagues visited museums and herbariums around the world to take samples of sweet potato varieties and wild relatives.

From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2018

The world’s herbariums contain a vast number of varieties that have yet to be genetically tested.

From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2018

Tell us all about flowers and plants for herbariums.

From Harper's Round Table, May 21, 1895 by Various

"We are going to the woods, too," said another group, "and will gather flowers to press for our herbariums."

From Pixy's Holiday Journey by George Lang

Specimens of this grass were sent to Kew and Calcutta herbariums for identification and they were named C. montana, with which I could not agree.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by K. Rangachari

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