herbarium

noun

her·​bar·​i·​um ˌ(h)ər-ˈber-ē-əm How to pronounce herbarium (audio)
plural herbaria ˌ(h)ər-ˈber-ē-ə How to pronounce herbarium (audio)
1
: a collection of dried plant specimens usually mounted and systematically arranged for reference
2
: a place that houses an herbarium

Examples of herbarium in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Their patterns — incorporating cool blues for Winter and notes of maroon for Autumn — are based on Swedish herbarium specimen sheets that the pair found while antiquing. Caitie Kelly Siobhan Reid Abid Haque Gisela Williams Carla Valdivia Nakatani Rima Suqi, New York Times, 13 July 2023 By the time a new Cal Academy of Sciences opened in 1916 in Golden Gate Park, the 57-year-old Eastwood had expanded her ambitions from a California herbarium to a worldwide collection of plants. Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Apr. 2023 Eastwood was hired as an herbarium assistant by Mary Katharine Brandegee, the Academy’s botany curator, who had been just the third woman to attend medical school at UC Berkeley. Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Apr. 2023 The exhibition also features text from journals and publications documenting the original voyage and a selection of plant specimens that Banks brought back with him and are today held in the Smithsonian’s collections as part of the U.S. National herbarium. Lily Katzman, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Feb. 2020 The seeds and fruits that were selected are a tiny fraction of the three million specimens housed in the Royal Botanic Garden's herbarium, the oldest of which dates back to 1697. CNN, 31 Aug. 2021 One current project is a plant diversity survey in conjunction with the Marin Municipal Water District that includes making collections to house in the Academy’s herbarium, on Mt. Tamalpais, north of San Francisco... Guest, Discover Magazine, 19 Dec. 2014 Transcribing museum and herbarium records is essential to preserve the knowledge gained over the past few centuries. Guest, Discover Magazine, 20 Feb. 2016 In addition to the seeds from these two places, the researchers clipped leaves from 47 watermelon specimens, which were originally collected between 1892 and 1927 from five continents, and are now stored at the Kew herbarium. Bridget Alex, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Nov. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'herbarium.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1751, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of herbarium was in 1751

Dictionary Entries Near herbarium

Cite this Entry

“Herbarium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/herbarium. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

herbarium

noun
her·​bar·​i·​um ˌ(h)ər-ˈbar-ē-əm How to pronounce herbarium (audio)
-ˈber-
plural herbaria -ē-ə How to pronounce herbarium (audio)
1
: a collection of dried plant specimens
2
: a place that houses an herbarium

More from Merriam-Webster on herbarium

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!