Botany: Herbarium Pacificum (BISH)
The Herbarium Pacificum (BISH) collection consists of approximately 730,000 plant, algae and fungi specimens. Our emphasis is on Hawai‘i and the Pacific Basin, but we also house representative material from other world regions. The collections of Hawaiian plants form the largest and most comprehensive assemblage of such specimens in the world, with approximately 193,000 specimens.
Summary of collections at BISH as of November, 2012.
Numbers in brackets give the percentage of collections databased.
| Collection | Hawaiian items |
World items |
Total |
| Type specimens | 5,768 (100) |
5,988 (100) |
11,756 |
| Vascular plants | 136,329 (100) |
c.450,000 (32) |
c.586,329 |
| Bryophytes | 13,660 (100) |
c.18,600 (5) |
c.32,260 |
| Algae | 31,630 (100) |
46,557 (100) |
78,187 |
| Fungi & lichens | 5,591 (100) |
c.9,000 (42) |
c.14,591 |
| Totals | 192,978 (100) |
c.530,145 (38) |
c.723,123 |
Numerous collections of major importance to Hawaii and Pacific botany and phycology are located at BISH, including those by H. St. John, F.R. Fosberg, O. Degener, J.F. Rock, C.N. Forbes, B.C. Stone, D.R. Herbst, W.L. Wagner, D. Nelson, U.J. Faurie, G.C. Munro, H. Mann, W.T. Brigham, I.A. Abbott, and M.S. Doty.
Type specimens are being imaged at high resolution and are available online via JSTOR Plant Science and are housed in a fire-protected room.
Need to borrow specimens or visit the Herbarium Pacificum? Click here for more information.
Collections Management Projects
- Care and curation of BISH collections.
- Databasing of all Pacific vascular plant, bryophyte, and algae specimens.
- Geo-referencing of all specimen localities from Hawaii, New Guinea, and the Polynesia-Micronesia region using MaNIS protocols.
- High resolution imaging of BISH Type specimens, Hawaii's rare and endangered species, New Guinea, and Pacific collections.
- Member of the Consortium of Pacific Herbaria.
For more information, contact Botany staff at (808) 848 4181
Projects in the Herbarium Pacificum are funded in part by the National Science Foundation (DEB-0950207 and DEB-1057453), and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Bishop Museum is an active supporter of the United States Virtual Herbarium (USVH) project.
