herbarium

American  

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

noun

plural

herbariums, herbaria

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

• herbarial adjective

Etymology

Origin of herbarium

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

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

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

Kevin says he loved walks in the countryside and collecting plants for his herbarium, and also studying at school.

From BBC • Aug. 19, 2024

Duke University has decided to close its herbarium, a collection of 825,000 specimens of plants, fungi and algae that was established more than a century ago.

From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2024

UC has documented thousands of native and nonnative plant specimens at Spring Grove in surveys by people such as Kate Nordyke, the cemetery's former herbarium specialist.

From Science Daily • Dec. 1, 2023

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