UAM Herbarium (ALA), Vascular Plant Collection (Arctos)

The Herbarium (ALA) at the University of Alaska Museum is the major regional herbarium in Alaska and part of a network of similar collections with an interest in the origin and evolution of the circumpolar flora. ALA contains more than 260,000 specimens of vascular and non-vascular plants. Data for the Vascular Plant and Cryptogam collections are managed separately in Arctos. Much of our understanding of Ice Age Beringia is based on botanical specimens, the largest collection of which is housed at ALA. Our recent acquisition from Iowa State University of the J. P. Anderson Collection (32,000 specimens on permanent loan) forms a significant part of this story. This collection of arctic and boreal plants, which contains 67 nomenclatural type specimens, formed the basis for much of Anderson’s seminal work, The Flora of Alaska. The botanical collection also includes plants from other states, Canada, Greenland, Fennoscandia, Japan, and Russia and provides a basis for teaching and research. Our botanical collection can be viewed and searched through the Arctos database and includes high resolution images of 163,000 herbarium sheets, online representation of 190,000 holdings, and inclusion of all holdings in an object-tracking system (barcode labeling).