Welcome to The Friesner Herbarium

“Carrying the Torch: The State of Indiana Botany in 2023” by Scott Namestnik, Botanist for the Indiana Natural Heritage Data Center, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Nature Preserves – View Scott’s engaging presentation about the history of documenting Indiana flora and how do we pass that torch to the next generation of botanists?


Exploring and documenting Indiana’s Flora…

The Friesner Herbarium is a systematic collection of over 100,000 dried, pressed and preserved plant specimens. The Herbarium, third largest in the state, grew out of the personal collections of Dr. Ray C. Friesner, Professor and Chair of the Botany Department, 1920-1952. The specimens, with their carefully documented labels, comprise a reference library on historical distribution, habitats, and timing of flower and fruit production. The collection’s voucher specimens serve to verify plant identification.  Read More…

Need to identify a tree? Click Here for our easy, one page, tree identification chart.