New York Botanical Garden (NY)

The Steere Bryophyte Herbarium holds perhaps the most important collection of bryophytes in the world in terms of the number of specimens, and the geographical and taxonomic depth and breadth. The herbarium contains approximately 640,000 specimens (520,000 mosses and 120,000 hepatics and hornworts). Of this total, approximately 24,500 (4%) are type specimens. This is the largest bryophyte herbarium in the Western Hemisphere and is among the five largest worldwide. The collection continues to grow actively today through staff collections and exchange. The emphasis is on collections from the Western Hemisphere, but virtually all areas of the world are represented.
Collections Manager of Cryptogamic Herbarium: Laura Briscoe, lbriscoe@nybg.org (ORCID #: 0000-0002-3900-4450)
Assistant Director of the Herbarium for Botanical Information Management: Kimberly Watson, kwatson@nybg.org
Collection Type: Preserved Specimens
Management: Data snapshot of local collection database
Last Update: 17 November 2023
Digital Metadata: EML File
Collection Statistics
  • 516,595 specimen records
  • 214,534 (42%) georeferenced
  • 89,524 (17%) with images (107,601 total images)
  • 502,243 (97%) identified to species
  • 246 families
  • 1,423 genera
  • 18,761 species
  • 20,393 total taxa (including subsp. and var.)
Extra Statistics