Collections

Image of rings in a wood specimen
Image of two small fungi
image of bryophytes
Photo of a Trillium species
Image of various bryophytes and lichens
Image of a purple Asteraceae

CINC specimen records can be found in the following databases:

  • Flora Finder (all plant records in the Tri-State Greater Cincinnati area compiled by the Local Flora Project at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden)

Vascular Plants

This herbarium specimen of “running buffalo clover” (Trifolium stoloniferum) was collected in 1886 by Cincinnati entrepreneur and renowned collector, Curtis Gates Lloyd (of the Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc.). This species was once abundant in the Cincinnati area, but is now very rarely encountered locally, and is a Federally Endangered Species. The herbarium collection is a window into past plant distributions, and can shed light on how local environments have been changed by human activity over time.
This herbarium specimen of “running buffalo clover” (Trifolium stoloniferum) was collected in 1886 by Cincinnati entrepreneur and renowned collector, Curtis Gates Lloyd (of the Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc.).  This species was once abundant in the Cincinnati area, but is now very rarely encountered locally, and is listed as a Federally Endangered Species.  The herbarium collection is a window into past plant distributions, and can shed light on how local environments have been changed by human activity over time.

Vascular plants are the generally the most familiar plants to people, and include seed plants like conifers and their relatives (“gymnosperms”) such as pines, redwoods, and fir trees, and flowering plants (“angiosperms”) such as roses, milkweed, and clover. Lesser known vascular plants include ferns and fern allies (e.g., clubmosses and horsetails).

Roughly 40% of the CINC collection comprises vascular plants, most of which are currently undergoing the digitization process. Information regarding specimens that have been digitized may be accessed using the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria. If you are working on a particular group of vascular plants not yet digitized from the CINC collection, please let us know and we will prioritize work on the group.

Bryophytes

This specimen, collected by Margaret Fulford in 1962, is an assemblage of two liverworts (Riccardia floribunda and Cephalozia patigonica) found in a sphagnum bog in Patagonia, Chile. Liverworts are commonly referred to as “hepatics” (e.g. Hepaticae on the label) from the Latin “hepatica,” meaning liver. Some tissues of liverworts resemble the human liver, leading early botanists to call these organisms “liverworts.”

Bryophytes are a group of non-vascular plants that include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. Bryophytes do not produce flowers or seeds, and they reproduce via spores.

The CINC collection is especially rich in bryophytes thanks to the work of former curators Margaret H. Fulford and Jerry A. Snider. Approximately 40% of the collection is composed of bryophyte specimens from around the World. All mosses and most liverworts have been databased. The bryophyte database is available through the Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria.

Lichens

William Bridge Cooke and his wife, Virginia G. Cooke, were prolific collectors who amassed hundreds of thousands of specimens all over the globe throughout the 20th century. This specimen of Stereocaulon tomentosum was collected at Glacier Bay National Monument in Alaska, in 1979.

Lichens are a fascinating group of symbiotic organisms made up of algae or cyanobacteria living in a mutualistic relationship with fungi. They are not plants, but lichens have traditionally been grouped with plants and typically make up part of herbarium collections.

The CINC lichen collection has been fully databased, and the ~7000 lichen specimens held by CINC can be found at the Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria.

Fungi

Stereum frustulosum, collected by Mary L. West in Hazelwood (Cincinnati), Ohio in October, 1945.

Although they may look like plants, fungi are actually classified in a taxonomic kingdom all to their own. However, early botanists treated fungi as plants and preserved them in herbarium collections. Fungi come in many shapes and sizes, from microscopic molds to large mushrooms.

The CINC fungi collection is comprised of over 8000 specimens. Digitization of this collection is currently being completed using the Mycology Collections Portal.

Miscellaneous

The CINC collection also includes a xylarium (wood collection), a small carpological (seed) collection, crude drug samples collected by the Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists Inc. of Cincinnati, thousands of microscope slides of liverworts and mosses prepared by Margaret Fulford, Jerry Snider, and their students, as well as hundreds of illustrations of liverworts drawn by Fulford.

Image of labels that are attached to wood specimens within the herbarium
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