Black Hills State University Herbarium

Description

General Collection The BHSU Herbarium (BHSC) holds about 50,000 vascular plant specimens and is rapidly growing. The Herbarium includes the world’s largest number of specimens from the ecologically unique Black Hills, and the surrounding region. Most of the specimens are angiosperms (flowering plants) with some gymnosperms (mostly conifers). Collections date to the 1870s. In addition to specimens from the Black Hills and the surrounding region, the Herbarium contains specimens from many places outside the Great Plains. Many plants from the Hawaiian flora were given to the collection by Otto Degener. Degener is noted for publishing Flora Hawaiiensis. Another well-known contributor is P.A. Munz, author of California Flora. The extant vascular plant collection includes a limited number of specimens from around the world; including collections by A. Eastwood, P.O. Schallert, L.S. Rose, J.A. Calder, B.C. Tharp, W.H. Duncan, A.E. Radford, J.M. Gillet, C.G. Pringle, P.A. Munz, E.J. Palmer, K. Biswas, and B. Rosengurtt. Fossil Plants The BHSU Herbarium is home to one of the largest collections of Miocene age plant fossils from the Great Plains of North America with about 30,000 individual fossils housed from throughout the Great Plains. Type collections of several fossil species from J.R. Thomasson and Mark Gabel are held in the collection. Grasses (Poaceae), hackberries (Celtis, Ulmaceae) sedges (Cyperaceae) and borages (Boraginaceae) are well represented. Fungi The mycological collection is primarily a result of the research of Audrey Gabel. The 4000 specimens of fungi and slime molds present in the Herbarium include nearly all of the state records for South Dakota.

Contacts

ADMINISTRATIVE_POINT_OF_CONTACT
Mark Gabel
Telephone: 1-605-642-6251
email: Mark.Gabel@bhsu.edu

POINT_OF_CONTACT
Grace Kostel
Telephone: 1-605-642-6543
email: Grace.Kostel@bhsu.edu

Black Hills State University Herbarium
Black Hills State University; 1200 University St.; Jonas Hall #159
Spearfish
57799
South Dakota
US
email: Grace.Kostel@bhsu.edu