Herbarium

The herbarium at Whitman College contains around 17,000 dried plant specimens, a large collection for a small liberal arts college. Emphasis is on vascular plants: the specimens include representatives of many Angiosperm families, various Gymnosperm and non-seed taxa, as well as some non-vascular plants, algae and fungi.

The herbarium collection emphasizes specimens from the western United States, especially Washington (the Blue Mountains), Idaho, Oregon and California. Among these are specimens collected by C. Piper, W. Cusick and C.L. Hitchcock. It contains an unusual collection of plants from China and Southeast Asia donated by E.F. Anderson, and a representation of species from different parts of the United States. The Whitman herbarium was founded in the late nineteenth century by H.S. Brode and built up over the next one hundred years by P.H. Pope and, most recently, E.F. Anderson.

The curator is Dr. Heidi E.M. Dobson.