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New "Virtual" US National Arboretum Herbarium Web Pages
The US National Arboretum Herbarium is one of a few in the world with a primary mission of supporting taxonomic research and identification of cultivated plants, including cultivars, hybrids, and other elite plant materials of use to man. To facilitate this research, the herbarium includes specimens not only of cultivated plants but also of their wild progenitors and is the official depository for documented specimens of USDA plant introductions, including food, drug, forage, industrial, and forest plants. The herbarium is a permanent reference collection of dried plant specimens necessary to taxonomic studies relating to agriculture, medicine, science, and education -- fields where documentation and correct identification of germplasm materials are essential. We have begun to electronically capture all of the data associated with each Type Specimen, Horticultural Cultivated Standard, as well as Specimens of Special Interest, to image these specimens, and to put all of this information on the internet. Although we have not finished the project we have posted what we have accomplished. Begin your "virtual" tour of the US National Arboretum Herbarium here.
