Natural history collections

Estonian National Plant Collections

Plant collections store dried specimens of vascular and moss plants, and historically also some groups of algae. The largest plant scientific collections in Estonia are the botanical collections of the University of Tartu Natural History Museum (TU(B)), the herbarium of the Estonian University of Life Sciences Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (TAA), the herbarium of the Estonian Museum of Natural History (TAM), and the herbarium of the Tallinn Botanical Garden (TALL), which together hold approximately one million specimens.

Each collection has its own characteristics; for example, the herbarium of the Estonian University of Life Sciences has the richest collection of Estonian plants, while the herbarium of University of Tartu is the oldest and most representative in terms of world plants and historical collections. The Tallinn Botanical Garden holds a representative herbarium of ornamental and garden plants, while the Estonian Museum of Natural History has collections from Estonia's earlier amateur botanists.