Vascular plants

The vascular plant collection at the Herbarium Karlsruhe (officially KR) contains collections from all over the world, including thousands of specimens from C.C. Gmelin, the first director of the collections, from the years 1779-1835, although since the post-war period a focus of the collections has been southwest Germany. The results are reflected in the basic work "The flowering plants of Baden-Württemberg", a cooperation with the Stuttgart Museum.

While the herbarium has always served as a collection of evidence for our region, the collections are much more extensive and reflect the global commitment of the SMNK. The vascular plant herbarium currently contains around 300.000 specimens.

For decades there was no dedicated curator at the SMNK for the vascular plant collection. Since 2022 Prof. Dr. Rainer W. Bussmann responsible for this area. The most important task at the moment is the protection of the existing material in order to preserve it for the future. New incoming material is drawn up, saved and entered into a database.