Established in 1987 by Dr. Jim Harris.
Since its founding the Utah Valley University Herbarium has grown to over 18,000 specimens. The herbarium houses an ever expanding and irreplaceable collection of plant species representing ecosystems in Utah and North America. This specialized natural history museum is especially valuable to undergraduate researchers as it is an easily accessible, on-campus resource providing hands-on experiential learning for all students from all disciplines. Our vascular and non-vascular plant and lichen collections afford research opportunities ranging from biotechnology to field studies. The Herbarium is located on UVU’s main campus (800 W. University Parkway, Orem Ut. 84032) in room 277 of the Science Building (SB 277).
It was a proud moment more than 20 years ago when the herbarium met the criteria to be accepted into the New York Botanical Garden, Index Herbariorum http://sweetgum.nybg.org/college-of-science/ih/. UVSC (which derives from the institution’s former name of Utah Valley State College) is the permanent acronym assigned by the Index Herbariorum. All other herbaria and museums know the UVU Herbarium by this acronym.
A major goal in UVU’s herbarium is collecting and conserving new material with as little specimen perturbation as possible; using whole plant gluing on all new collections is avoided. The collection has never had the need for fumigation. These collections will provide high quality material intended for DNA extraction and supporting molecular taxonomic and phylogenetic work.
UVU’s Herbarium and Native Plant Research Garden also have seeds to share via an Index seminum. This Index seminum is a free seed sharing program for academic research, research garden improvement and more.
2001
2018
Bryson Johnson, 2019
Dasha Horton, 2019
This is a 2600 sq. ft. facility consisting of a headhouse and three climate-controlled greenhouses, including heating/cooling, humidity, and sun exposure. Maintained within the UVU greenhouse is a variety of living plant specimens used for demonstration in various botany and biology courses…
Capitol Reef Field Station, in partnership with Capitol Reef National Park, promotes and supports engaged learning, environmental ethics, and research and creative work through the exploration of the Colorado Plateau.
College of Science
800 W. University ParkwayOrem, UT 84058Utah Valley UniversityMS 299Monday through Thursday 7:00am - 5:00pm
The Herbarium is open to any visitor interested in learning about the collections or for consulting or plant identification purposes. Researchers wishing to study our collection should make arrangements prior to their visit. We also welcome home school visits by appointment.
