Our students and visitors have the opportunity to study the diversity of plants outside
their immediate environment
Where plants show their unique identities in their fruits and seeds
Unlocking the secrets of nature through our extensive collections.
Our cabinets house herbarium sheets from over 300 families of plants and fungi collected
both locally and abroad
The University of Nigeria Herbarium (UNN), founded in 1962, is domiciled in the Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology (Formerly Botany), Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Campus. The Herbarium houses over 5,000 species of plants (of all groups - Thallophytes, Bryophytes, Pteridophytes and Tracheophytes) and fungi. Some of its collections (including those made by renowned botanists at reputable herbaria such Kew, Missouri State etc.) were either lost or damaged as the civil war that lasted from 1967 to 1970. Some of its important collectors include H. David, C. L. A. Leakey, C. M. Weed, B. A. Molski, I. Tavares, J. Dearness, J. C. Elliott, C. C. Amobi, E. Bartholomew, A. A. Okoye, W. Davis, A. B. Seymour, A. W. A. Edwards and Felix Nwafor. First attempt to digitize these collections started in 2022 with the International Association of Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) small collection grant. Currently, over 4,000 collections have been digitized while others are in progress.
As the largest herbarium in the Western Hemisphere,
the Steere Herbarium is a priceless resource for
scholars from around
the world who are documenting earth's biodiversity of plants and fungi. We focus on
building
collections in all groups and regions and in large scale digitization and rapid data entry.
