Division of Biology and Medicine
Brown University Herbarium
Brown University Herbarium
Rhode Island’s premiere collection of botanical specimens.
Brown University Herbarium
Rhode Island’s premiere collection of botanical specimens.
A Fertile Ground for Science
Home to over 100,000 specimens and an active site of research and learning, the Brown University Herbarium (BRU) is proud to be the largest holder of specimens collected in Rhode Island. The herbarium also houses specimens from all 50 US states and over 100 countries, with particularly rich collections from across New England and western and southern North America. The collections continue to grow thanks to the contributions of student collectors, professional botanists, community scientists, and gifts from other herbaria.
100,000+
Botanical Specimens
100
Countries represented in collections
77,000
Vascular Plants
Learn More
The Brown University Herbarium documents the world’s flora and provides a continuous and permanent record of botanical diversity.
Recent projects have focused on digitizing and databasing Herbarium collections.
The Brown Herbarium welcomes all visitors to observe and use our data and collections.
Brown University is on the traditional homeland of the Narragansett people. Our herbarium collections come from lands of the Narragansett, Wampanoag, Pokanoket, Nipmuc, and many more Indigenous peoples across the Americas and beyond.
We respectfully acknowledge all the native peoples who occupied and cared for the lands that produced the plants in our collections.
Support the Herbarium
To ensure we're able to continue our efforts to document botanical diversity in Rhode Island and beyond, please consider supporting the herbarium with a tax deductible donation.