Western Australian Herbarium

The Western Australian Herbarium (PERTH) collections document the biodiversity of native and alien flora of Western Australia. The collection of over 815,000 specimens includes vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, marine and fresh water algae, as well as collections of micro-organisms of particular significance to conservation, agriculture and public health such as water moulds, Cyanobacteria, and Actinobacteria.

The Herbarium is part of an extensive network of around 70 Western Australian regional community groups maintaining local reference collections of duplicate specimens.

The Pilbara Regional Herbarium (PRH), sometimes referred to as (KARR) closed in 2006 and its 7,273 specimens were transferred to PERTH. The PRH specimens included flowering plants, cycads and ferns of the Australian arid zone, in particular the Pilbara Region. The Hilton Fungi collection has been transferred to PERTH, along with the algal specimens from the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Murdoch University Herbarium (MURU). Fungi of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture and CSIRO Mycology Herbarium, and the Western Australian Musuem botanical collections have been incorporated into PERTH.