Botany FAQs

The Botany collection is available for study by qualified researchers, Botany students and professionals in the field by appointment only. To determine if our collection contains specimens from your taxonomic group, or which might prove useful to your research, please visit our online collection database which is searchable by taxon, collector, geography and other selected criteria.

If you would like to arrange a visit to view specific specimens/groups, please contact the Botany Collection Manager (details on main page) via email and include a brief research proposal and list of the specimens you would like to see. For students, also include a letter of support from a faculty member.

We are interested in obtaining new material and encourage botanists to contact the person listed to the right under Contact Us. We often work with amateur and professional botanists on regional collecting efforts and have had several large herbaria donated to CAS in the past.

Though it may seem counter-intuitive, botanists—who study the structure of plants, the functions of their parts, the places they grow, their classifications, etc.—aren't actually the best source of this kind of information. Instead, we recommend contacting your local garden center or agricultural extension office.

Unfortunately, no. Because live specimens often carry pests that could contaminate our collections, we don't keep any live specimens in the department. You may try contacting the San Francisco Botanical Garden or the Conservatory of Flowers.

If you're interested in making a monetary donation to the Department of Botany, thank you! Please contact the Academy’s Development Office at (415) 379-5405 or development@calacademy.org.

Please contact the Naturalist Center. If they're not able to identify the plant, they'll get in touch with a botanist for you. This is the quickest way to get a response to your question.

Certainly! Try these additional online resources for type specimens:

• New York Botanical Garden
• U.S. National Herbarium - Smithsonian
• Missouri Botanical Garden
• Harvard University Herbaria - Gray Herbarium