Services

Facilities
The Marion Ownbey Herbarium is an important source of information on plants. The herbarium houses one of the larger collections of plant specimens that is available in the Pacific Northwest and provides access to the specimens for study. Institutional loans of specimens are available.

The herbarium is located in room G9 of Heald Hall at Washington State University. Staff are available most days, and visitors are welcome. Appointments for visits and service requests are advisable (telephone: 509-335-3250; e-mail: wsherb@mail.wsu.edu).

A small reference library is available for use in the herbarium. This collection emphasizes floras, systematic monographs, and nomenclatural references. Field guides with illustrations of regional plants are available in the herbarium. Books on special topics, such as weedy and poisonous plants, are available.

Identifications and Information
Herbarium staff provide assistance with plant identification. It is advisable to contact herbarium staff about the type of plant material that may be needed to adequately identify plant specimens.

Herbarium staff attempt to provide information on plants upon request. The information that is most readily available focuses on taxonomy, plant distributions, poisonous plants, weeds, and the human uses of plants.

Programming
Programs on local plants, taxonomy, and basic plant biology are available through the herbarium. We are willing to work with groups that have special requests for programs or workshops.

Tours of the herbarium facilities are available for individuals and groups upon request. The herbarium has adequate space to accomodate groups of approximately 25 individuals.

Check out our new on-line educational programs!

Access
To access herbarium services, you can telephone us at 509-335-3250 or send e-mail to wsherb@mail.wsu.edu. The mail address in the Department of Botany is available on the herbarium homepage. Individuals in the unversity community and campus visitors are welcome to drop-by.