Digitising the Cambridge University Herbarium

Digitised herbarium collections allow researchers to study these irreplaceable botanical specimens more easily, without having to travel long distances to visit the herbarium in person. It also preserves these fragile plants by minimising movement and handling when a high-quality image can be examined instead of the physical specimen.

Cambridge University Herbarium's collection is filled with scientifically important specimens, as well as many plants and illustrations that are simply beautiful to look at. Here are some of the highlights of the past few months of work in Cambridge University Herbarium's digitisation program.

Thank you to all of the dedicated volunteers who have spent hours curating, barcoding, photographing and transcribing these specimens. Find out more about how to contribute to this project on Zooniverse at Digitising the Cambridge University Herbarium. We look forward to continuing our work to make this scientifically and historically important collection more accessible to researchers around the world.