Since the 1500s, scientists have documented plants and fungi, organizing specimens into collections. Known as herbaria, these archives helped give rise to botany as a scientific endeavor.

Herbarium is a fascinating study of this unique field of plant biology, exploring how herbaria emerged and have changed over time, who promoted and contributed to them, and why they remain such an important source of data for understanding how the world’s flora is changing.

Barbara Thiers, director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden, explains how recent innovations allow us to see things at both the molecular level and on a global scale to address some of the most critical problems facing the world today.

At its heart, Herbarium is a compelling reminder of one of humanity’s better impulses: to save things—not just for ourselves, but for generations to come 

Hardcover, 304 pages