Traveling the World Through Herbariums

Many people enjoy travelling to far-flung places, to explore areas very different than where they live. How about doing the same for bryophytes and lichens?

I have been studying bryophytes for 12 years, and am getting to the point that I would like a fuller picture of these amazing organisms. I must admit that, while I still have much to learn about the bryophyte flora in my back yard, a chance to see more of the morphology and diversity of the world’s bryophytes coming from many different ecosystems excites me.

I enjoy collecting bryophyte specimens and keying them out. Most of my specimens have come from the eastern United States. However, I have a desire to explore further. I would like to learn the bryophytes of the western United States. I would like to go even further, and explore areas far, far from home such as Central and South America, Africa, Asia or New Zealand.

One way to do that would be to get permits and ex-plore these places in person. Having made collections, I could then labor over keys trying to figure what I had, and then check with an expert to make sure that I had keyed out correctly. That is how, in
part, I learned bryophytes in my part of the world.

As much fun as that sounds, how plausible is it really? It could be a real pain getting permits in unfamiliar places. I do not have the time or money to explore a lot of far away places. Learning new taxonomies from scratch would take lots of time. But there are other ways to see and learn exotic bryophytes or lichens, if one has an interest – major bryophyte and lichen research herbariums.

Even if I did have an opportunity to collect in some far-flung place, say Central America or India, checking on and working through named specimens from those regions would still be invaluable to help learn their taxonomy. Less than an 8 hour drive from where I live in Columbus, Ohio are 2 major research bryological herbariums with collections from around the world. To the east is the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and its Steere Bryophyte Herbarium, located in the Bronx in New York City; and to the west is the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG), located near St. Louis.

According to the latest statistics on the bryophyte portal, the New York Botanical Garden has 449,957 specimen records including 225 families, 1,375 genera, 16,884 species; 18,372 total taxa (including subsp. and var.). Most areas of the world are represented in its collections.

According to the latest statistics on the bryophyte portal, the Missouri Botanical Garden has 384,194 specimen records including 197 families, 1,335 genera, 13,064 species; 14,767 total taxa (including subsp. and var.).

In addition to the huge variety of specimens collected and identified by some of the world’s top bryologists, there are keys and flora developed to aid in going through the specimens. For example, I have a moss flora of Central America that I am just itching to use. While there are many resources now on the web and in the literature to help understand the world’s bryophyte and lichen flora, to me there is nothing like looking at specimens through a microscope, while reviewing a good flora, to help you really understand them in an intimate manner.

I contacted both herbariums. Both are open to visitors who would like to look at specimens. While many of these may be professional researchers, amateur bryologists are also welcome. Both offer places to stay at reasonable prices (especially useful for an urban area like NYC where it is difficult to find reasonably priced places to stay). Person(s) interested in exploring these collections should contact the curators of the herbariums beforehand.

Information can be found for the MBG at https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plant-science/plant- science/resources/herbarium.aspx.

Information for the NYBG can be found at http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/collections/bryophytes/.

While I’ve focused mainly on bryophytes, places for the study of lichens around the world are also available. Again, the New York Botanical Garden is one of the largest and most diverse in the country, with the portal for the Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria showing it has 245,698 specimen records in 219 families, 835 genera, 6,455 species, and 6,700 total taxa (including subsp. and var.).

There are of course numerous other smaller herbariums worth exploring, especially for more regional studies; although some also have significant international collections. Most will allow you to look at their collections. They can be explored on The Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria https://lichenportal.org/cnalh/ and The Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria https://bryophyteportal.org/portal/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=3.

-Bill Schumacher