pressed peony flowers on herbarium voucher specimen

Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium Herbarium

Where plant history cultivates future discovery

About

The L. H. Bailey Hortorium Herbarium (BH) at Cornell University is one of the largest university-affiliated collections of preserved plant material in North America. 

Mission

The LH Bailey Hortorium supports collection-based botanical and horticultural research and discovery while preserving and celebrating the rich history and legacy of its founders.

Vision

The LH Bailey Hortorium aspires to preserve and document biodiversity; steward and celebrate the 150-year-long history of the herbarium; support and document the work of researchers and contributing botanists past and present; exemplify, stimulate, and facilitate collections-based research among students and the wider botanical community; evolve and enhance digital presence to advance and improve access for users and future collaborators.

Take a tour of our collection

Play Tour an HERBARIUM: Museum of Plants with Summer Rayne Oakes

Cornell is home to 2000 Type Specimens

What is a type?

A type specimen is an individual voucher specimen that serves as the permanent, name-bearing reference point for a species name. There are many types of types, you will have to visit to see them all!

 

 

Legacy Specimens

Our specimens date back to the 1700's and are full of a rich collection history that spans worldwide.

Type Collection Bailey Herbarium vertical
dried fern specimens

News

Hannah Marx collecting alpine plants in the field. Photo provided.

Field Note

Hannah Marx: enabling discoveries at the L.H. Bailey herbarium
Cornell’s Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium Herbarium is a curated collection of preserved plant specimens used as a library for studying plant biodiversity, identifying potential pharmaceuticals and tracing species evolution. It is the fourth...
  • Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Biology Section
Illustration of a Wardian case used for transporting plants, from a page in Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward’s treatise, “On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases,” published in 1842.

News

Library’s ‘plant-based’ exhibit opens Sept. 18 with talk, reception

Plants – as objects of admiration and scientific study and materials for creative expression – are the focus of a new Cornell University Library exhibit, “Plant-Based: Botanical Innovations from Paper to Poison,” which opens Sept. 18.

  • Cornell Botanic Gardens
  • Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium
  • Plants