Herbarium Senckenbergianum
Decentralized Botanical-Mycological Collections
The botanical-mycological collections of the Senckenberg Research Institutes are spread over 5 places: Frankfurt/M., Görlitz, Jena, Weimar and Wilhelmshaven.
The Herbarium Senckenbergianum in Frankfurt/M. was established in 1817, the Herbarium Senckenbergianum in Görlitz dates back to 1823 and the Herbarium Haussknecht (JE) was founded in Weimar in 1896. The two other collections in Weimar and Wilhelmshaven are of recent origin, have a narrow thematic focus and considerable smaller. In Weimar we house a collection of quaternary macrofloras (IQW), in Wilhemshaven a special collection for Dinophyta in Wilhelmshaven (Centre of Excellence for Dinophyte Taxonomy -CEDiT), which is affiliated to the cryptogam collection of the Herbarium Senckenbergianum Frankfurt/Main.
The Herbarium Senckenbergianum comprises a total of approx. 6.1 million specimens. Since our fusion in 2009, staff of the botanical departments meets annually to standardize administrative processes and coordinate the joint collection strategy. One focus is the digital availability of the collections via GBIF, JACQ, Senckenberg Search and content-specific virtual herbaria on the German flora (https://virtherbard.senckenberg.de; https://bestikri.senckenberg.de) or our “Crypto-Hub”. With joint research projects -such as the non-destructive determination of plant nutrients from herbarium specimens of the German and Mongolian flora – we want to advance collection-related research and uncover the treasures of our collections.
