Ahart Herbarium

Studies from Ahart Herbarium (formerly the Chico State Herbarium) was founded in 1983 by Rob Schlising. Studies from the Herbarium is a non-profit endeavor through which professional and amateur botanists study and document the rich flora of Butte County and northern California. It emphasizes floras and ecological studies involving the plants and plant communities of Northern California.

Detailed Book List
Most volumes of are available through the Friends of the Ahart Herbarium.

21. Vern Oswald's Selected Plants of Northern California and Adjacent Nevada, 3rd edition
by Lawrence P. Janeway
504 pages, 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 in., coil bind
July 2022, ISBN 978-0-9761774-8-7

20. Vernal Pool Landscapes: Past, Present and Future
by Robert A. Schlising, Erin E. Gottschalk Fisher, C. Matt Guilliams, and Barbara Castro, editors
294 pages, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
December 2019, ISBN 978-0-9761774-7-0

18. Vernal Pools in Changing Landscapes
by Robert A. Schlising, Erin E. Gottschalk Fisher, and C. Matt Guilliams, editors
291 pages, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
December 2016, ISBN 978-0-9761774-5-6

16. Research & Recovery in Vernal Pool Landscapes
by Douglas G. Alexander and Robert A. Schlising
175 pages, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
December 2011, ISBN 978-0-9761774-3-2

15. Wildflowers of Table Mountain, a Naturalist's Guide
by Albin Bills and Samantha Mackey
166 pages, 5½ x 8½ in., paperback
2018, ISBN 978-0-9761774-2-5

14. Vernal Pool Landscapes
by Robert A. Schlising and Douglas G. Alexander, editors
217 pages, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
December 2007, ISBN 978-0-9761774-1-8

9. Cyperaceae of Butte County, California - Part 1: Carex
by Lawrence P. Janeway
78 pages, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
February 1992, ISBN 978-0-9726953-6-7

8. Vernal Pool Plants – Their Habitat and Biology
by Diane H. Ikeda and Robert A. Schlising, editors
178 pages, 7½ x 10½ in., paperback
June 1990, ISBN 978-0-9726953-5-0

6 & 7. Violaceae of Butte County, California & Cucurbitaceae of Butte County, California
by F. Jay Fuller and Robert A. Schlising
33 pages combined, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
April 1987, ISBN 978-0-9726953-4-3

4 & 5. Limnanthaceae of Butte County, California & Malvaceae of Butte County, California
by M. Jeanne Boze and Robert A. Schlising
30 pages combined, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
January 1987, ISBN 978-0-9726953-3-6

3. Vascular Plants of Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, California
by Vernon H. Oswald
98 pages, 6 x 9 in., paperback
March 1986, ISBN 978-0-9726953-2-9

2. Cruciferae of Butte County, California
by Robert E. Preston
46 pages, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
August 1985, ISBN 978-0-9726953-1-2

1. Boraginaceae of Butte County, California
by Robert A. Schlising
34 pages, 8½ x 11 in., paperback
November 1984, ISBN 978-0-9726953-0-5

Flora Buttensis was produced at the Chico State Herbarium from 1980 through 1986 by Mary S. Taylor, then a graduate student and local herbariophile. Volume 1, Number 3, from 1980, is particularly noteworthy as the start of the Butte County flora project which culminated with the publication in 1994 of Vern Oswald’s Manual of the Vascular Plants of Butte County, California by the California Native Plant Society.

The Flora Buttensis series includes checklists, supplements, and bibliographies documenting the plants of Butte and Plumas Counties and neighboring regions. These volumes also include rare and endangered plant lists and early bibliographies of California floristics.

Selected Plants of Northern California and Adjacent Nevada was created by Vernon H. Oswald and later revised by Lawrence Janeway. The publication includes detailed species accounts and photographs illustrating the region’s native flora. Earlier versions were distributed privately before the work was published in the Studies from the Herbarium series.

The Ahart Herbarium’s specimen data and high-resolution images are curated in the Consortium of California Herbaria (CCH2). This public database provides access to more than 120,000 records, linking historical and current collections for research and education.

HERBARIUM ACCESSIONS – as of October 21, 2020

• 122,874 accessioned specimens
• 119,611 specimens are databased – 93,816 are from California
  • Vascular plants: 102,818 specimens – 81,560 from California
    Database managed and query-able at Consortium of California Herbaria - CCH2 data portal
    https://www.cch2.org/portal/
  • Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, hornworts): 4,786 specimens – 3,360 from California
    Database managed and query-able at Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria (CNABH)
    https://bryophyteportal.org/portal/
  • Lichens: 1,591 specimens – 1,267 from California
    Database managed and query-able at Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria (CNALH)
    https://lichenportal.org/portal/index.php
  • Slime molds (myxomycetes): 10,416 specimens – 7,649 from California
    Database managed and query-able at Mycology Collections data Portal (MyCoPortal)
    https://mycoportal.org/portal/
  • Macro-algae and fleshy fungi: Not counted, not databased – in need of a curatorial friend.

• Plus 2000 recently mounted vascular plant specimens waiting to be accessioned, databased, imaged, and filed.

Consortium of California Herbaria
California vascular plants only. The specimen database of this organization, based at UC Berkeley, contains records for the California vascular plant specimens from most of the California herbaria that have been using a database for their collections. Queries can be made on several data fields, including species, county, collector, and/or geographic locality. A truly elegant site.

All of our collections in the database (vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens; California and outside of California). This portion of our web site is hosted by the herbarium at UC Davis. Queries can be made by genus or species name only. Such queries obtain data from our non-California collections as well as for our California collections.

Ahart Herbarium is actively photographing specimens in the collection and linking the images to the collection information for each species. This information is accessible through the California Phenology Thematic Collections Network

Through a National Science Foundation grant, the Herbarium will be imaging over 30,000 specimens in the collection which will be similar to the one here. Collectively, over 23 different herbaria and collections across California will be located on CCH2.

Initial Funding Announcement
Ahart Herbarium has received NSF funding to digitize the university's plant collection as part of a large California-wide collaboration to understand the effects of climate change on flowering time.  The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.8 million for this project, called Capturing California's Flowers.  Ahart Herbarium is one of 22 participating herbaria throughout the state.

The project will produce nearly 1 million digital images of the plant specimens housed in herbaria throughout California.  These plant records go back almost 200 years and have data about when and where the plant specimen was collected.  This project will capture the time and place of each collection as well as data about the flowering and fruiting condition of each specimen. This will allow researchers to combine the historical data with current flowering time trends to track change through time.  All of the images and data will also be made available to the public via a new online database.

Ahart Herbarium will receive $33,660 to image 30,000 records.  Ahart Herbarium just added their 120,000th specimen to their records that supports teaching and research.  This includes 98,000 vascular plants, 3200 bryophytes, 1300 lichens and 10,000 slime molds.  The current project will focus on the vascular plant collection.  The specimens provide a long term reference of the plants for the North Central Valley and beyond.  The funds will also be used to improve herbarium infrastructure and support students who will participate in this effort.

A website has recently been created for this project, called CAP TCN, short for California Phenology Thematic Collections Network.

General Information

What is an herbarium?
Here is a nice write-up at Wikipedia.

What are herbarium specimens?
A nice write-up at the University and Jepson Herbaria website.

Index Herbariorum
"A worldwide index of 3,100 herbaria and 12,000 associated staff where a total of 390 million botanical specimens are permanently housed."

Major California Herbaria

University and Jepson Herbaria, UC Berkeley (UC/JEPS)
"The University and Jepson Herbaria of the University of California at Berkeley are two collections of pressed plants housed together along with research labs, libraries, and archives. Together the Herbaria hold about 2,200,000 specimens, one of the largest collections in North America. The University Herbarium, established in 1895, holds botanical collections from around the world. The Jepson Herbarium, established in 1950, specializes in the vascular plants of California."

California Academy of Sciences Herbarium (CAS)
"The herbarium of the California Academy of Sciences is the largest collection of vascular plants in the western U.S. It is the sixth largest collection in the United States. Together with the Herbarium of the University of California at Berkeley (UC) the San Francisco Bay area is regarded as a National Resource Center for systematic botany. These two major collections have an informal agreement to avoid duplication, thus providing botanists with a rich and varied resource for research. The Academy collection includes approximately 2 million plant specimens. More than 95% of the specimens are vascular seed plants; the remainder are ferns and a growing collection of bryophytes. There are almost 12,000 types (holotypes, isotypes, syntypes, lectotypes, and neotypes) housed separately from the general collection."

UC Davis Herbarium (DAV)
"The UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity has ca. 300,000 specimens. The collections are worldwide in scope, with strengths in the following geographic regions: California; Ecuador; Baja California; the Antilles; the Pacific Islands; Mediterranean-climate regions. The following specialty areas are strong: range plants of California; vernal pool plants of California; alpine flora of western North America; poisonous and weedy plants of California; Euphorbiaceae; Poaceae; and the genera Quercus, Allium, Arctostaphylos, Atriplex, Capsicum, Clarkia, Eschscholzia, Lycianthes, Lycopersicon, Mimulus, Navarretia, Stephanomeria, Trifolium, Vitis."

California Botanic Garden Herbarium (RSA/POM - formerly Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Herbarium)
"The Herbarium is recognized throughout the world for its strength in documenting the diversity, distribution, variation, and ecology of more than 6,500 California native plant species. The combined Herbarium of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Pomona College (RSA-POM) is a museum-quality collection of vascular plant specimens. With current holdings totaling over 1,200,000 specimens, the Herbarium is the tenth largest in the United States and third largest in California."

Major Botanical Organizations

California

California Botanical Society
"The California Botanical Society is the hub of California botany, with their journal, Madroño, being the essential go-to publication for scientific information about the California (and western) flora and vegetation. The California Botanical Society was founded by Willis Linn Jepson in 1913 and serves a major role in advancing Western American botany with its five primary program services: Scientific Publications, Annual Banquet, Research Support, Graduate Student Support, and Community Outreach."

Northern California Botanists
"Northern California Botanists is an organization with the purpose of increasing knowledge and communication among agency, consulting, academic, and other botanists about botanical issues concerning science, conservation, education, and professional development. Our primary objectives are to establish a communication forum via occasional meetings, a scholarship fund for students working on botanical problems in northern California, a job forum, and symposia that focus on the botany of northern California."

Southern California Botanists
"The Southern California Botanists is an organization of individuals devoted to the study, preservation, and conservation of the native plants and plant communities of Southern California. The journal Crossosoma, published twice a year, carries articles of interest to amateur and professional botanists. The newsletter, Leaflets of the Southern California Botanists, published bimonthly, contains notices of field trips, symposia, and other events of interest. Southern California Botanists is a nonprofit organization."

California Native Plant Society (CNPS)
"Since its beginnings, the California Native Plant Society has been a leading voice in plant science and native plant appreciation, making it one of the foremost native plant organizations in the world. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to conserving California native plants and their natural habitats, while increasing the understanding, enjoyment, and horticultural use of native plants. We work closely with decision-makers, scientists, and local planners to advocate for well-informed and environmentally friendly policies, regulations, and land management practices."

Calflora
"The Calflora Database is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information about California plant biodiversity for use in education, research, and conservation. Calflora is structured as a digital library to serve as a repository for information on California wild plants in electronic formats from diverse sources, including public agencies, academic institutions, private organizations, and individuals. It provides this information in readily usable formats for scientific, conservation, and educational purposes, and serves public information needs related to the study and appreciation of California plant life."

National

Society of Herbarium Curators (SHC)
"The Society of Herbarium Curators unites the world's herbarium professionals in discussion, training, action, and support for the benefit of herbaria, science, and society. SHC envisions a network of innovative, well-trained herbarium professionals, empowered to recognize and address local and global stakeholder needs with organizationally sustainable strategies that advance the well-being of herbaria, science, and society."

American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT)
"Organized in 1936 to foster, encourage, and promote education and research in the field of plant taxonomy, to include those areas and fields of study that contribute to and bear upon taxonomy and herbaria. ASPT publishes the quarterly journal Systematic Botany. Their website includes their quarterly newsletter and membership directory."

Botanical Society of America (BSA)
"The BSA is the professional home for botanists and plant scientists. We support the breadth and diversity of botanical research and education. Our main area of expertise is in supporting professional botanists and their students, and we also encourage K–12 teachers, community college educators, affiliated professionals, and amateurs as members. We are a leading society dedicated to botany and its future. Our mission is to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. BSA publishes the journal American Journal of Botany."