The Smith Herbarium

Specimens from the Herbarium of Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828) held at the Linnean Society of London.

Please note, the specimen names reflect the historical 'filed as' names that were attached to the specimens when they arrived at the Linnean Society, and do not necessarily correspond with the current/accepted names. If you are unable to locate a specimen, please contact curators@linnean.org for assistance. All of the information for each item/specimen is available to all users without logging in. Registered users do not have access to additional information or downloadable images. Permission to re-use images is required: please email images@linnean.org, or go to Reprographics and Image Use.

Browse the Smith Herbarium

• by genus

Search the Smith Herbarium

Search by Savage number

Currently, the specimens in this herbarium are only searchable using the names written on the sheets by James Edward Smith and by subsequent determinations. The currently accepted names for these early post-Linnaean era names can be sourced using online resources such as TROPICOS or IPNI. The annotations on the sheets, which are largely by Smith but also bear the handwriting of many others, have not been transcribed into the database. In 1963, Spencer Savage compiled a Catalogue of the Smithian Herbarium, which was never published. A digital copy of this catalogue is available below and is invaluable for interpreting the annotations on the sheets. It is particularly important to consult this catalogue when searching the online resource.

The catalogue is in six parts and specimens are ordered by Genus and Sheet number, which can be found at the top of each online specimen page and in its associated full metadata.

• Part 1. Preface, Introductory sections and Index
• Part 2. Genera 1-379
• Part 3. Genera 380-872
• Part 4. Genera 873-1226
• Part 5. Genera 1227-1436
• Part 6. Genera 1437-1654
• Part 7. Genera 1655-1723

The Society welcomes current determinations of our specimens. We also encourage the use of these collections for scientific and historical research. Please contact curators@linnean.org if you would like to provide determinations or if you have an enquiry about accessing or using the collection.