The University of Arizona Herbarium (ARIZ *) is as old as the University itself.
When the University first opened its doors to students in October of 1891, the Herbarium was located in Old Main and consisted of 700 native plant specimens from southern and central Arizona. Since that time, the collections have grown to close to 450,000 accessions.
ARIZ contains one of the largest collections of plants from the biologically diverse Sonoran Desert region (Arizona, Sonora, and adjacent desert areas of California and Baja California). ARIZ also contains significant collections of plants from other regions of Mexico, and is home to numerous important historical collections, many dating to the 1800s.
For more detail, please see the following article by G. Ferguson and M. McMahon, posted here by permission of the Arizona Native Plant Society:
Here are a few highlights in the timeline:
- 1890 - James W. Toumey starts ARIZ with a collection of 700 Arizona plants
- 1891 - Herbarium opens, originally housed in Old Main
- 1901 - John J. Thornber replaces J.W. Toumey as Director of Herbarium
- Early 1900s - Herbarium moves to Science Hall, later know as the Liberal Arts Annex
- 1936 - Herbarium moves to Forbes (Agricultural Building)
- 1937 - Lyman Benson joins herbarium as Thornber's assistant
- 1944 - Frank Gould becomes Director while Thornber enters semi-retirement
- 1944 - 30,000 personal specimens of Forrest Shreve are acquired by herbarium
- 1949 - Kittie Parker becomes Director
- 1951 - Frank Gould publishes Grasses of the Southwest
- 1952 - Robert Peebles collection is acquired from the USDA Cotton Station in Sacaton
- 1953 - Charles T. Mason becomes Director
- 1955 - 15,000 Leslie M. Goodding specimens are acquired from Soil Conservation Services
- 1962 - Herbarium moves into Shantz Building
- 1989 - H.S. Gentry Herbarium acquired
- 1992 - Lucinda McDade becomes Director
- 2001 - Steve McLaughlin becomes Director
- 2004 - Herbarium moves to current location in Herring Hall
- 2006 - Shelley McMahon becomes Director
* All herbaria have unique codes to provide precision, e.g., when publishing references to specimens. Our internationally recognized code is ARIZ.