WWW VL Mycology: Collections
These pages are no longer maintained, and were last updated in 2005. More info on the home page.
Refer also to the suppliers page for commercial dealers in mushroom spawn
[Culture Collections]---[Herbaria]
The World Data Center on Microorganisms compiles data for many different collections.
NRRL, the very large culture collection of the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (Peoria, IL) includes many patent strains. Searchable catalogs for holdings of Penicillium, Aspergillus and actinomycetes (filamentous bacteria) are currently available; more catalogs will appear soon.
The ATCC web page provides a searchable interface to their extensive holdings of filamentous fungi and yeasts, ordering instructions, and information about ATCC workshops and products.
A catalog of cultures available from the USDA-ARS Collections of Entomopathogenic Fungi (Ithaca, NY, USA) is available online in pdf format.
BEG lists cultures of glomalean endomycorrhizal fungi in use by European researchers. Its aims are to facilitate and standardize identification, conserve biodiversity and maintain a database of strains. The BEG newsletter, dummies' guide to AM fungi, various protocols, plus genetic libraries and sequences are available through the web site. Strains are available free of charge for scientific research.
BCCM provides cultures of fungi, yeasts, bacteria and plasmids. Their web pages include their newsletter and online search forms.
Common Access to Biological Resources and Information (CABRI) provides a unified search interface for a handful of European culture collections. These include BCCM, CABI, and CBS, among others.
The CCFC holds more than 10000 fungal cultures accessible through a searchable database. Ordering information and a directory of Canadian culture collections are also available here.
CBS is an important center for mycological research in The Netherlands. Their extensive culture collection can be searched on many criteria, including cultural characteristics. CBS also provides access to nomenclatural databases on the Aphyllophorales and the genus Fusarium, and archives of an ongoing discussion on fungal nomenclature.
The Czech Republic's Culture Collection of Basidiomycetes (CCBAS) contains more than 630 strains belonging to 253 species in 115 genera, specializing in members of the Agaricales, Aphyllophorales, and Gasterales. Complete accession information is available online.
The CCF holds about 2000 strains, and provides a list of taxa for browsing.
The FCUG collection at the University of Göteborg, Sweden, is particularly rich in cultures of wood-rotting basidiomycetes. A searchable interface is provided.
The FGSC serves databases on the genetics of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Neurospora, Sordaria and other fungi, as well as catalogs of mutant and wild type strains; cloned genes and gene libraries; and useful recipes and methods. The Fungal Genetics Newsletter is online with full text and quality images. Some laboratory exercises demonstrating fungi can be found here. European users will achieve faster access through the U.K. mirror site.
Fungi Perfecti (Olympia, Washington, USA) supplies a plethora of mushroom-growing equipment, spawn and kits, books, and dried edible and medicinal mushrooms. Their online catalog and information about Paul Stamets' mushroom cultivation seminars and consultation services can be found here. This elegant web site includes many impressive images of mushrooms and other products, including scanning electron micrographs of mushroom ultrastructure.
A collection of cultures of soil-inhabiting fungi housed at the Institute of Arable Crops Research, Rothamsted, U.K.
A large collection of cultures is maintained by the Inst. for Fermentation in Osaka, Japan. A list of fungal species in IFO is available. The catalog is available on CD-ROM or in printed form, but is not yet online.
The web pages of INVAM provide information about this large collection of endomycorrhizal fungi, its staff, and the fungi it holds. Information on the taxonomy of glomalean fungi, cultivation and isolation methods, and a searchable database of accessions are available online.
A compilation of data from Chinese culture collections and herbaria, information on the journal "Mycosystema," and other Chinese mycology resources.
MSDN's guide to mushroom databases is an extensive collection of data repositories relating to scientific work on mushrooms. Summaries and connection information are included for both public and commercial resources of interest to mycologists.
A searchable database of 4000 fungal strains held by the LCP (Laboratoire de Cryptogamie) at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. Web pages in French and English.
The New Zealand Fungus Herbarium focuses on the fungi of New Zealand. The ICMP culture collection and data on New Zealand's fungi are also provided through this website.
La Coleccion Espanola de Cultivos Tipo includes cultures of fungi and bacteria, browsable via an online catalog. An English interface is also available.
The UKNCC provides searchable interfaces for ten culture collections in the U.K., including the diverse fungal holdings of CABI Bioscience (formerly IMI) and the National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC).
The catalogue of the UAMH culture collection is searchable online. This Canadian collection of over 9500 strains includes significant collections of ascomycetous and hyphomycetous microfungi, fungi associated with human and animal disease, and mycorrhizal fungi. The web pages provide information on UAMH research, services, ordering procedures, and training opportunities.
Searchable indices to UPSC, the fungal culture collection at Uppsala University (Sweden). The collection includes some 3000 accessions.
The World Federation of Culture Collections offers searchable indices of over 400 registered culture collections in more than 50 countries worldwide. Many culture collection homepages can also be found through the WDCM.
Index Herbariorum, can be searched and updated online through the New York Botanical Garden.
The Arthur Herbarium at Purdue University (USA) holds "almost 100,000 specimens" of rust fungi (Uredinales) from all over the world.
The British Antarctic Survey herbarium (AAS) includes plants, lichens, algae and macrofungi. The site provides access to a literature database, and to accession information for Antarctic collections at AAS and other herbaria.
Web pages of the Hungarian Natural History Museum's herbarium of fungi, specializing in mushrooms and microfungi. Over 90,000 specimens and 66 types are held. A searchable database of about 20,000 macrofungal specimens can be accessed here.
Home page of CUP, a large herbarium including about 400,000 specimens of fungi and also a diverse collection of plant pathogenic organisms.
This database of type specimens held in herbaria in the Netherlands is searchable by taxon, author, and many other fields. It includes about 55,000 specimens of plants, fungi and lichens held at Amsterdam (AMD), Leiden (L), Utrecht (U) and Wageningen (WAG). Images of some specimens are available.
The vast holdings of the Farlow Herbarium (FH) at Harvard University (MA, USA) include fungi, lichens, bryophytes, and algae.
A source of information and supplies for growing entheogenic mushrooms.
A searchable interface is available for 28,000 fungal specimens held by the US Forest Service Forest Mycology and Mycorrhiza Research Team, in Corvallis, OR.
The website of the US Forest Service group in Corvallis, Oregon, USA includes a photo gallery, an index to publications, and information on current research. Under "Publications and Products," you can find searchable databases of their herbarium, and of literature on mycology and sequestrate fungi (truffles and truffle-like fungi).
DAVFP, the herbarium of the Pacific Forestry Centre (Canadian Forest Service) now has online listings of holdings, and also provides a host-fungus index for plants of British Columbia (Canada), as well as mushroom fact sheets.
A list of taxa of fungi and lichens held by HBG and their collectors is available through their home pages.
Fungal type specimens held at the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, USA are searchable online.
The online version of the Index Herbariorum can be searched and updated online courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden.
The Kriebel Herbarium at Purdue University holds specimens of fungi and plants, specializing in those from Indiana, in central USA.
A searchable index of fungal type specimens in the MA Herbarium (Real Jardin Botanico, Madrid, Spain). Dothidealean and sphaeropsidalean taxa are especially well represented, and important collections include those of R. Gonzalez Fragoso, R. Ciferri, and F. Bubak.
A compilation of data from Chinese culture collections and herbaria, information on the journal "Mycosystema," and other Chinese mycology resources.
A Swiss group proposing to build a kind of museum of fungi, the International Center of Mycology (site in English, German, and French).
Herbarium BR provides information on specimens, loans, and images, including watercolors of myxomycetes by Klopfenstein, E., and scans of fresh specimens by A. Marchal. Information on the BR myxomycete herbarium of N.E. Nannenga-Bremekamp is provided. Types and other specimens from their three main collections (Africa, Europe and Belgium) are searchable by genus name.
Three major university herbaria: Leiden (L), Utrecht (U), and Wageningen (WAG) merged in 1999 to form the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, NHN. The web sites include a searchable index to type specimens, and other information about the herbarium.
Numerous subcollections of fungi within the Steere Herbarium of the NYBG (USA) can be searched online. This includes fungus types and many others.
The New Zealand Fungus Herbarium focuses on the fungi of New Zealand. The ICMP culture collection and data on New Zealand's fungi are also provided through this website.
Fungal type specimens at OSC, the Oregon State University Herbarium (USA) are now searchable online.
Personal Herbaria of Professor M.R.D.Seaward are currently housed at the University of Bradford (U.K.). THe Lichen herbarium is provided with a searchable interface.
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne Australia maintain a nice set of pages on fungi. Their catalog of Australian fungi, linked to specimen data and synonymy, complements FungiMap, a guide to species distributions. A series of fungal fact sheets is being developed.
Partial holdings of RUTPP, the mycological herbarium of Rutgers University (NJ, USA) are browsable online.
A guide to herbarium history, layout, and major collections is presented on the web page of the Mycological Herbarium of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Foresty (Syracuse, NY, USA).
A listing of specimens, including types, held by the Swedish Museum of Natural History (S) Lichen Herbarium, Stockholm, Sweden. A listing of fungal exsiccatae, and images of mushrooms painted for Elias Fries are also available.
The New York State Museum (Albany, NY, USA) holds C.H. Peck's collections, among others. This site includes a database of Peck's type specimens, dates of publication for his works, and biographical information. Peck described more than 2,700 new species during his career as the New York State Botanist from 1868 until 1913.
This incredibly valuable USDA-ARS site is a superstar of mycological internet resources. It provides a searchable host index based on "Fungi on Plants and Plant Products in the US;" a "Literature Guide for Identification of Plant Pathogenic Fungi;" mycological literature reference databases; a listing of specimens in the National Fungus Collections (BPI); an index to Saccardo's "Sylloge Fungorum;" and and index to the "Index of Fungi."
The Lichen Type Specimen Register (includes lichens and bryophytes) at the Smithsonian Institution is searchable. A checklist of the lichenized fungi of the Guianas is also available.
Information about the herbaria includes a list of type specimens of fungi and lichens held at UC, the herbarium of the University of California at Berkeley (USA).
The lichen holdings of the University of Arizona herbarium (USA) are searchable online, along with information on the Sonoran Desert Lichen Flora Project.
Over 14,000 fungi and 35,000 lichens of the University of British Columbia collections can be searched online.
The fungal collections of the University of Michigan herbarium is among the largest in North America. Some fungus specimens (including types) can be searched online. Other fungal resources include an image collection, scanned fungal monographs, and other digital resources.
This site provides checklists of lichen specimens at MIN, including types, exsiccati, and other holdings.
The University of Oslo Herbarium (O), Norway provides searchable databases and checklists of lichens, including a searchable archive of recent literature.
A searchable database of holdings and label information for specimens in the University of Trieste Lichen Herbarium (TSB), Italy.
