Botany and Mycology

The Field Museum’s Botany and Mycology houses one of the largest herbaria in the Western Hemisphere, with over 3.5 million specimens documenting plant, fungal, and lichen diversity worldwide. These collections underpin research on evolution, ecology, climate change, and human–plant interactions, while supporting education, conservation, and global biodiversity science.

Collection Overview

Plants and fungi are essential to life on earth—key components of the planet’s ecology, biodiversity, climate, and human cultures. The study of plants and fungi is fundamental to medical science, conservation, genetics, agriculture, food-web studies, soil science, climate studies, anthropology, and many other fields. Field Museum botanists are leaders in the study of plant and fungi evolution, ecology, biogeography, environmental/climate impact, plant-animal interactions, and more.

Nothing but Facts

Botany and Mycology Policies

Some items in the Field Museum collections are available to loan for exhibition, research, or education in support of our mission: fighting climate change, preserving biodiversity, celebrating cultures, and championing science

Research

Explore the kinds of research happening in the Botany collections.

Work with us

Collections Club welcomes community scientists (like you!) to explore, curate and digitize Field Museum specimens. Go behind the scenes and take a closer look at specimens and digital records with hands-on curation activities with our scientists