UTK Herbarium - TENN

UTK Herbarium - TENN Biodiversity collection of over 710,000 plants & fungi . Specimens from around the world

Our vascular plant collection is unique in having the largest collection of specimens from the state of Tennessee, the historical collections documenting the flora of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (a World Biosphere Reserve). The vascular plant website hosts nearly 7000 photos and distribution maps of Tennessee plants. Our bryophyte collection houses 183,000 filed specimens from throughout the world, with a strong emphasis on species found in Tennessee [Appalachian Region], North America [Pacific Northwest and Alaska, SE US], Mexico, and Asia. Our fungal collection houses over 68,000 searchable records on line, including ca. 6000 collections of plant pathogens. This world-wide collection has a strong emphasis on Chinese and New Zealand specimens, and no other collection can match TENN in southern Appalachian fungi.

Sometimes, even the most extraordinary stories are true.This beautiful 1947 specimen book, filled with pressed plants co...
09/16/2026

Sometimes, even the most extraordinary stories are true.

This beautiful 1947 specimen book, filled with pressed plants collected nearly 80 years ago, quite literally fell out of a ceiling.

Yes, a ceiling.

In July 2026, Roy Lee Jenkins, a contractor from Monroe County, Tennessee, was working on a property in Vonore when he began removing a basement ceiling. Down came the book, along with several other items. Roy opened it to find page after page of carefully pressed and labeled plants. Realizing he had found something worth saving, he thought of Dusty Prater, a friend and collaborator with the TENN Herbarium, who contacted us about the discovery.

And what a treasure it is.

Clues within the book tell us that it was created by Charles Niles and appears to have been a herbarium class project for “Botany 204F” at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tennessee. Charles collected plants around East Tennessee, identified them, and recorded where and when he found them.

What began as a class project in 1947 is something much more today. Each specimen is a record of a plant growing at a particular place and time nearly 80 years ago. Together, the specimens preserve a snapshot of East Tennessee’s flora, while the book itself preserves a piece of the region’s botanical and educational history. That combination makes it especially valuable to a collection like TENN, where both the specimens and the information associated with them can be preserved for the future.

How it ended up above a ceiling remains something of a mystery. A wood stove was once located nearby, which raises the intriguing possibility that the book was placed there intentionally, where the warm, dry conditions may have helped preserve the specimens.

And after all that collecting, pressing, identifying, labeling, and assembling, Charles apparently received a B+ from someone identified only by the initials “B.H.B.”

We are incredibly grateful to Roy Lee Jenkins for recognizing that this remarkable discovery was worth saving, and to Dusty Prater for so generously donating it to the TENN Herbarium.

Charles may have earned a B+ in 1947, but nearly 80 years later, we think his herbarium project deserves an A+.

Did you know you can explore Tennessee’s flora through the UTK Herbarium website?The UTK Herbarium offers much more than...
09/14/2026

Did you know you can explore Tennessee’s flora through the UTK Herbarium website?

The UTK Herbarium offers much more than the specimens in our collection cabinets. TENN also provides an extensive online resource for learning about the vascular plants of Tennessee.

Trying to identify a plant?
Explore thousands of photographs showing Tennessee plants in the field, including flowers, fruits, leaves, and other features that can help with identification.

Wondering where a species grows?
Species pages include county-level distribution maps showing where plants have been documented across Tennessee. You can explore both native plants and introduced species.

Is a plant native or introduced?
Browse individual genera to compare the species found in Tennessee and see their native status in the state.

Curious about the plants in your county?
Search the flora by county, or explore plants by family, genus, and common name. You can also check state and federal conservation status to find out whether a species is considered rare or of special concern.

Whether you’re identifying a plant, researching a species, exploring Tennessee’s biodiversity, or simply curious about what grows around you, the UT Herbarium website puts a wealth of botanical information at your fingertips.

And this is only one part of our website! You can also learn more about TENN’s collections, research, history, and other resources. Our vascular plant, bryophyte, algae, and fungi specimens are also accessible online through collection portals linked from the website.

herbarium.utk.edu

What if your classroom this winter were a tropical forest in Panama?Join Dr. Jacob Suissa for Tropical Plant Biodiversit...
09/10/2026

What if your classroom this winter were a tropical forest in Panama?

Join Dr. Jacob Suissa for Tropical Plant Biodiversity (EEB 461), a field-based Winter Mini Term course exploring one of the most biologically diverse regions on Earth.

From January 4–18, 2027, students will experience tropical plant diversity firsthand: hiking through tropical forests, learning to recognize dominant plant families in the field, and exploring the ecology and evolution behind the extraordinary diversity of the tropics.

The course is open to undergraduate and graduate students, and the program will include visits to the Mamoni Valley Preserve, the Chocó Region, Panama City, Indigenous Guna territory, and the Continental Ridge.

Why are tropical forests so diverse?
Which plants make up that diversity?
How do plants survive and interact in tropical ecosystems?

Go beyond the classroom and experience tropical plant biodiversity where it happens.

Scholarships are available!
Apply by October 2, 2026.

Learn more and apply through UTK Programs Abroad.

When A. R. Shields and A. J. Sharp collected Trichomanes petersii near Calderwood Lake in 1939, they documented more tha...
09/08/2026

When A. R. Shields and A. J. Sharp collected Trichomanes petersii near Calderwood Lake in 1939, they documented more than just the plant.

At first glance, their specimen looks fairly ordinary. It includes the preserved plant, a collection label, and a packet containing specimen material.

But tucked inside is something unexpected: a hand-drawn map larger than the specimen itself!

The map shows the area around Calderwood Lake, including the Tennessee–North Carolina state line, surrounding counties, roads and waterways, and the approximate location where the specimen was collected.

Before GPS coordinates could be recorded in the field with the ease and precision available today, collectors documented locations in other ways. Detailed written descriptions were essential, but sometimes collectors went a step further. Maps like this preserved geographic context that might otherwise have been difficult for future researchers to reconstruct.

That information can remain valuable decades later. Researchers can use historical locality information to revisit collection areas, compare past and present species distributions, and investigate how populations and landscapes have changed over time.

Today, collectors can record precise latitude and longitude coordinates in seconds. This hand-drawn map is a wonderful reminder of how botanists documented the landscape before GPS, and of the extraordinary information that can be tucked away with an herbarium specimen.

How far can a fungus range?With support from the Breedlove-Dennis Fund, researcher Chance Noffsinger traveled to Acadia ...
09/04/2026

How far can a fungus range?

With support from the Breedlove-Dennis Fund, researcher Chance Noffsinger traveled to Acadia National Park in Maine to investigate the diversity and distribution of Russula, a large and poorly understood genus of mycorrhizal fungi.

Chance’s research focused on Russula in the high-elevation spruce-fir forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains. These fungi form important mutualistic relationships with trees such as Fraser fir, red spruce, and birch. The fungi help their plant hosts obtain nutrients, while receiving sugars produced through photosynthesis in return.

But an important question remained: Were the Russula species found in southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests also present in similar forests much farther north?

To find out, Chance spent five days collecting Russula in the spruce-fir forests of Acadia National Park. He made 11 collections that represented seven species. Five of those species also occurred in spruce-fir forests of the Southeast, which provided evidence that several had broad distributions extending along much of eastern North America. Two species were found only in the northeastern spruce-fir habitats sampled during the study.

This research was part of the first systematic effort to collect, study, and sequence DNA from Russula across the spruce-fir forests of eastern North America. Because these fungi play important roles in forest ecosystems, helping plants obtain nutrients, influencing water dynamics, and helping protect their hosts from pathogens, understanding which species occurred where provided valuable baseline information for studying these fungal
communities and how they might respond to changing environmental conditions.

The fieldwork also contributed to scientific collections. Splits from the Maine collections were deposited at the UTK Herbarium (TENN), where they are preserved and made available for future research.

The UT Herbarium (TENN) and the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee are proud to support student research through opportunities like the Breedlove, Dennis Fund. Projects like this provide valuable field experience while advancing our understanding of fungal diversity, forest ecology, and conservation.

Have you ever noticed the small barcode in the corner of an herbarium specimen?That little barcode plays a big role in b...
09/03/2026

Have you ever noticed the small barcode in the corner of an herbarium specimen?

That little barcode plays a big role in both managing an herbarium collection and making its specimens accessible for scientific research.

A specimen’s barcode represents its unique catalog number, an identifier assigned to that individual specimen. The barcode also makes that number machine-readable, which allows it to be scanned quickly and accurately.

At TENN, we use barcodes throughout our collection workflows. They connect physical specimens with their database records and digital images, help us check that specimen data have been entered correctly, and allow us to keep track of specimens as they move through the collection. When we prepare research loans, we scan barcodes to document exactly which specimens are being sent to another institution.

For researchers, catalog numbers provide a precise way to identify individual specimens. Scientists can use them to locate records online, cite specimens in their research, or request specific specimens they need to study, even when those specimens are housed at an herbarium hundreds or thousands of miles away.

You may notice letters in TENN catalog numbers, too. Different letters signify different collections, which includes our vascular plants, bryophytes, algae, fungi, and lichens.

With more than 710,000 specimens at TENN, being able to identify and track one particular specimen matters. Barcodes give us a fast and reliable way to do exactly that.

Join us for Specimens & Scones on September 15th!Ever wondered what’s inside the UTK Herbarium? Come spend an afternoon ...
08/31/2026

Join us for Specimens & Scones on September 15th!

Ever wondered what’s inside the UTK Herbarium? Come spend an afternoon with us and discover the stories held within more than 700,000 preserved specimens from Tennessee and around the world!

During this behind-the-scenes guided tour, we’ll share the Herbarium’s history, show how plants are collected and preserved, explain how specimens are organized so they can be found and studied, and discover how these collections are used to study biodiversity, taxonomy, conservation, and environmental change.
Visitors will see everything from vascular plants and bryophytes to fungi, algae, seeds, and fruits—and get an up-close look at some of the unusual and fascinating specimens hidden within the collection.

And, of course, there will be coffee, tea, scones, and other treats to enjoy while you visit!

Tuesday, September 15th
3–5 PM
UTK Herbarium (TENN) - 1818 Andy Holt Avenue, first floor of Temple Hall

Everyone is welcome! No botanical experience required, just bring your curiosity.

Visiting from off campus? Please let us know in advance if you’ll need parking so we can plan for enough visitor parking passes. A limited number may be available for last-minute visitors.

We look forward to seeing everyone!

-utk

What can natural history collections tell us about our world, and why are they more important than ever?Earlier this wee...
08/28/2026

What can natural history collections tell us about our world, and why are they more important than ever?

Earlier this week, the TENN Herbarium welcomed undergraduate and graduate students from the UT Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology’s Natural History Collections Research course, taught by Herbarium Director Dr. Jessica Budke.

The Herbarium was the first stop in a semester-long exploration of UT’s natural history collections. Dr. Budke introduced students to our plant and fungal collections and how preserved specimens provide a record of biodiversity across space and time while continuing to support research in ecology, evolution, conservation, and much more.

After seeing how preserved specimens become lasting scientific resources, the students got to help create some themselves! Following the tour, students learned how to mount plant specimens for long-term preservation, gaining firsthand experience with one of the fundamental skills of herbarium curation.

And the Herbarium is only the beginning! Throughout the course, students will explore several of UT’s research and teaching collections and learn how specimens and their associated data can answer scientific questions, while gaining experience creating, curating, databasing, and using natural history specimens.

In a rapidly changing world, natural history collections may be more important than ever. These specimens provide irreplaceable records of the past while giving researchers the data they need to understand changes in biodiversity and environments and help shape the future

“HerbariumTour

When Lexemuel Ray Hesler arrived at the University of Tennessee in 1919 as a professor of botany, he began a career that...
08/26/2026

When Lexemuel Ray Hesler arrived at the University of Tennessee in 1919 as a professor of botany, he began a career that would leave a lasting mark on both UT and the study of fungi. He went on to lead the Botany Department and became Dean of the College of Liberal Arts in 1934.

That same year, disaster struck.

A fire swept through Morrill Hall, destroying Hesler’s extensive fungal collection, primary research notes, and manuscripts for two books. Years of specimens and research were suddenly gone.

Faced with that enormous loss, Hesler set out to rebuild what the fire had taken. He reconstructed his fungal collections and research notebooks and rewrote the lost books for publication. His career continued for decades, ultimately producing 11 books and more than 100 scientific articles, while thousands of his specimens became part of the UTK Herbarium and other herbaria across the country.

By the end of his career, Hesler’s impact on the University of Tennessee had become undeniable. When he retired in 1958, UTK honored his decades of contributions by naming the biology building after him: Hesler Biology Building.

His work is still being preserved and made accessible today. UT Libraries has digitized 209 of his mushroom research and specimen notebooks, including handwritten observations, drawings, photographs, and identification work.

More than 90 years after the fire that could have ended his research, Hesler’s legacy remains firmly rooted at UT, in thousands of preserved specimens and research notebooks, and in the biology building that still bears his name.

Address

Temple Hall, 1818 Andy Holt Avenue
Knoxville, TN
37996

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+18659746213

Website

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