Founded by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1935, the Hortorium has historically been the major U. S. center for the systematics of cultivated plants. Today, the Hortorium's mission has expanded to include systematic studies of wild and cultivated plants, ethnobotany, molecular systematics, paleobotany, phylogenetic theory, biodiversity studies, and pharmaceutical studies of tropical plants.
The Hortorium currently has specialists working in oaks, grasses, legumes, and angiosperm fossils. Students interested in graduate studies in the Bailey Hortorium typically apply to the Graduate Field of Plant Biology and choose systematics and/or paleobotany as one of their concentrations. Alternatively, the Bailey Hortorium partners with the New York Botanical Garden in a Graduate Studies Program that involves instruction up to the point of Admission to Candidacy (A-exam) at Cornell's Ithaca Campus and completion of research at the New York Botanical Garden in New York City. Please note that this program requires separate applications to both institutions.
Facilities at the Bailey Hortorium include:
- BH (including CU) Herbarium (860,000 specimens)
- Cornell University Plant Anatomy Collection (CU-PAC)
- Ethel Z. Bailey Horticultural Catalogue Collection
- L. H. Bailey Hortorium Library
- L. H. Bailey Conservatory
Note: The Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP), which holds the systematic collection of fungi and other plant disease-causing organisms, is administered by the Section of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology.
Virtual tour
Join Cornell alum and author Summer Rayne Oakes (How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart) as she tours the Herbarium with Associate Curator & Extension Botanist Anna Stalter. View video.
General Information
Dr. William L. Crepet
Phone: 607-255-7977
Email: wlc1 [at] cornell.edu (wlc1[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Collections Information
BH and CU Herbaria
Email: herbarium [at] cornell.edu (herbarium[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Curator
kcn2 [at] cornell.edu (Dr. Kevin Nixon), 607-255-7975
Associate Curator & Extension Botanist
ams15 [at] cornell.edu (Dr.) ams15 [at] cornell.edu (Anna Stalter), 607-255-1052
Assistant Curator & Librarian
pf13 [at] cornell.edu (Peter Fraissinet), 607-255-0443
Conservatory
Vacant
Databases and E-floras
kcn2 [at] cornell.edu (Dr. Kevin Nixon), 607-255-7975
Ethel Z. Bailey Horticultural Catalogue Collection
daf10 [at] cornell.edu (Dorothy Stiefel)
Paleobotany Collection
wlc1 [at] cornell.edu (Dr. William Crepet), 607-255-7977
Plant Anatomy Collection
mag4 [at] cornell.edu (Dr. Maria A. Gandolfo-Nixon), 607-255-3273
