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Herbarium Summary Statistics |
This page gives a snapshot of c. 274,572 accessed specimen records in the database as of May, 2018. To get a feeling of the changes in the collection from 2010 and 2004, view the analyses from the 2010 pervious version and the 2004 previous version of this page. The database does include the specimens in the process of being processed for accession, but these specimens are not included in these numbers. Since the current analysis was done on an active database, the numbers will not be perfectly consistent because of the continuing addition of specimens and corrections to the database during the compilation period.
Each record corresponds to a specimen in the UCR Herbarium. A vascular plant specimen is a pressed, dried plant glued onto heavy paper and labeled with its scientific name and details on the collector, location, date, etc. Lichen specimens are similar, but are stored in paper packets.
In this page, we first breakdown the number of vouchers by area, and then by taxa in selected areas.
The purpose of an herbarium is to provide as extensive a collection as possible of plant specimens for a variety of scientific studies. The UCR collection includes cultivated material from greenhouses and gardens, weeds of cultivated ground as well as native plants and weeds from natural areas.
Because specimens enter our collection in many ways, a particular species, genus or family might be collected much more extensively than another comparable taxon, perhaps because of the donation of unique sets of specimens. For example, the UCR collection of junipers (Juniperus) from the western U.S. is exceptionally strong because of the work of Frank Vasek and a large subsequent donation by David Charlet. In addition, rare plants are probably over-represented in our database, because of the additional survey attention they receive from field biologists.
Collection Statistics By Area
Country
States in the U.S.
States in Mexico
Counties in CaliforniaCollection Statistics By Taxonomic Divisions and Area
Number of Taxa in Overall Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Overall Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in United States Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Mexico Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in California Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Riverside County Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in San Bernardino County Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Los Angeles County Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Ventura County Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Santa Barbara County Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Orange County Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in San Diego County Collection
Number of Taxa by Plant Group in Imperial County Collection
Statistics By Area
Collection Statistics by Country
Country Specimens Count Percentage U.S. 231,074 84.16% Mexico 38,471 14.01% Costa Rica 1,064 0.39% Guatamela 608 0.22% Other countries 3,355 1.22% Missing country 0 0.00% Total 274,572 100.00% The table shows that a little more than 4/5 of the collection is from the U.S., with less than a sixth of the collection from Mexico. The rest of the 78 countries represented in the inventory make up a little more than 1% of the collection. Collectors' travels and the research projects of faculty, staff and students are reflected in the collection.
Collection Statistics by States of the U.S.
U.S. State Specimens Count Percentage CA 191,479 82.86% AZ 11,469 4.96% NV 8,078 3.50% NM 4,700 2.03% TX 4,143 1.79% UT 2,680 1.16% CO 2,224 0.96% RI 777 0.34% Other 5,524 2.39% Total 231,074 100.0% Interestingly, California makes up roughly the same percentage of the U.S. collection as the U.S. makes up of the entire collection, both being about 4/5. Almost 1/20 of our U.S. collection is from our neighboring state of Arizona, with all other states making up a little more than 12% of the collection.
The other states combined in the above table are detailed in the following histogram:
U.S. State Specimens Count Percentage U.S. State Specimens Count Percentage U.S. State Specimens Count Percentage OR 652 0.28% OH 146 0.06% IL 24 0.01% WA 533 0.23% NY 139 0.06% TN 23 0.01% SC 390 0.17% FL 122 0.05% NH 20 0.01% AK 378 0.16% AR 119 0.05% CT 19 0.01% KS 294 0.13% MO 97 0.04% KY 17 0.01% PR 244 0.11% OK 91 0.04% IN 15 0.01% LA 229 0.10% MA 73 0.03% WV 15 0.01% WY 225 0.10% MD 68 0.03% WI 11 0.00% NJ 209 0.09% NE 60 0.03% ND 10 0.00% AL 207 0.09% SD 46 0.02% DC 9 0.00% PA 192 0.08% MN 40 0.02% ME 7 0.00% ID 189 0.08% MI 32 0.01% VI 7 0.00% NC 178 0.08% HI 30 0.01% MS 6 0.00% MT 152 0.07% IA 27 0.01% VT 2 0.00% GA 151 0.07% VA 26 0.01% Only one state is not represented in our database so far: Delaware. The District of Columbia (DC), Puerto Rico (PR) and the Virgin Islands (VI) are, though Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands are not [as you may have noticed, these six areas have been issued U.S. quarter coins].
Collection Statistics by States of Mexico
Surprisingly, the distribution of specimens among Mexican states is not highly concentrated, and the closest Mexican state, Baja California North, is not even the one with the most specimens. Hence the following table simply lists every state.
Interestingly, the UCR Herbarium contains specimens from every state in Mexico, even though it is missing specimens from one U.S. state.
Mexico State Specimens Count Percentage Mexico State Specimens Count Percentage Mexico State Specimens Count Percentage SON 6,108 15.88% OAX 887 2.31% PUE 208 0.54% JAL 5,649 14.68% YUC 652 1.69% CAMP 199 0.52% BCN 5,220 13.57% NL 522 1.36% SLP 191 0.50% COL 2,867 7.45% MOR 502 1.13% MEX 145 0.38% BCS 2,378 6.18% NAY 419 1.09% TLAX 138 0.36% SIN 2,085 5.42% ZAC 405 1.05% TAMPS 132 0.34% CHIH 1,616 4.20% GRO 356 0.93% TAB 29 0.08% DGO 1,514 3.94% AGS 351 0.91% GTO 9 0.02% QRO 1,394 3.62% COAH 320 0.83% CHIS 1,372 3.57% DF 290 0.75% MICH 1,125 2.92% QTO 252 0.66% VER 926 2.41% HGO 210 0.55% Total 38,471 100.0%
Collection Statistics by Counties of California
County Specimens Count Percentage County Specimens Count Percentage San Bernardino 44,974 23.49% Orange 4,942 2.58% Riverside 34,486 18.01% San Luis Obispo 4,848 2.53% Los Angeles 26,561 13.87% Mono 4,642 2.42% San Diego 14,457 7.55% Imperial 3,879 2.03% Inyo 8,277 4.32% Ventura 3,084 1.61% Kern 7,871 4.11% Amador 1,763 0.92% Santa Barbara 5,395 2.82% Other 21,130 11.04% El Dorado 5,169 2.70% Total 191,478 100.0% As one might expect, the distribution of vouchers within California is much less concentrated than the concentration of the U.S. among countries and California among U.S. states. Nonetheless, almost half of the specimens are from the two counties closest to UCR: San Bernardino and Riverside. The next nearest county to UCR, Los Angeles, has the next largest number of vouchers. After that county, the effect of county proximity is not large; other effects, such as obtaining specimens of non-local taxa, or exploring interesting locations in the Sierra Nevada or deserts, are often as important in determining the number of vouchers from a given county.
The UCR database contains vouchers from every county in California.
The other counties combined in the above table are detailed in the following table:
CA County Specimens Count Percentage CA County Specimens Count Percentage CA County Specimens Count Percentage Placer 1,756 0.92% Tuolumne 381 0.20% Del Norte 272 0.14% Tulare 1,634 0.85% Madera 360 0.19% Yuba 266 0.14% Monterey 1,529 0.80% Trinity 360 0.19% Lassen 246 0.13% Sonoma 1.148 0.60% Marin 356 0.19% Plumas 235 0.12% Alpine 1,145 0.60% Sierra 356 0.19% San Francisco 232 0.12% Calaveras 1,100 0.57% Lake 342 0.18% Alameda 206 0.11% Nevada 1,078 0.56% Solano 339 0.18% Tehama 144 0.08% Fresno 769 0.40% Shasta 335 0.18% Contra Costa 138 0.07% Yolo 557 0.29% San Benito 313 0.16% Stanislaus 132 0.07% Mendocino 488 0.26% San Joaquin 312 0.16% Glenn 123 0.06% Siskiyou 485 0.25% Sutter 305 0.16% Merced 86 0.04% Sacramento 443 0.23% Santa Clara 303 0.16% Kings 61 0.03% Colusa 429 0.22% Mariposa 301 0.16% Indeterminate 3 0.00% San Mateo 411 0.22% Napa 295 0.15% Humboldt 408 0.21% Butte 283 0.15% Santa Cruz 388 0.20% Modoc 277 0.14% Total 21,130 11.04% In the above table, a small number of vouchers where the county was indeterminate because of a too general location description were all placed under the label Indeterminate.
Number of Taxa in Overall Collection
Taxonomic Level
of IdentificationTaxa Count Percentage Specimens Count Specimens Percentage Plant Group 6 0.02% 712 0.26% Family 52 0.18% 299 0.11% Genus 1,421 4.94% 10,228 3.72% species 21,863 76.07% 225,298 82.05% subtaxon 4,969 17.29% 37,026 13.48% Named hybrid 68 0.24% 290 0.11% Hybrid 362 1.26% 732 0.27% missing 0 0.00% 11 0.00% Total 28,741 100.00% 274,597 100.00% As may be seen from the above table, not all specimens are identified fully. Some are only identified to division or general plant group. For example, bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) and fungi are two plant groups in which these specimens lie. There are some 30 bryophyte specimens and 363 fungus specimens in this status. Others have only been identified to family, that is, to one of 52 families. Two hundred and ninety-nine specimens are in this status. Still others have only been identified to genus, that is, to one of 1,421 genera. 10,228 specimens are in this status. There are 11 vouchers that have not been identified even to plant group within the database. These 11 are somewhere in the collection yet to be seen again for identification.
There are some 28,741 species represented in the collection by some 274,597 vouchers. Remember that this summary table is not giving a count of the number of species in the world; it is summarizing how many categories of specimen names are in our database.
Remember that the taxa here include lichens as well as vascular plants. These taxa are broken into those two subsets and others in the next sections.
Plant Groups (Collection as a Whole) The collection is organized by general plant groups: Fungi, Lichens, Mosses (including liverworts), Ferns, Gymnosperms, Monocots, Dicots.
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 103 508 0.24% Lichens 1,908 11,109 5.30% Mosses 3 9 0.00% Ferns 575 3,245 1.55% Gymnosperms 225 2,515 1.20% Monocots 3,421 28,796 13.74% Dicots 18,557 163,432 77.96% Missing -- 29 0.00% Total 24,792 209,643 100.00% The numbers in the Species+ Count column are the sums of the number of taxa at the species level and beyond (to the level of a subtaxon or a named hybrid). Those taxa at the genus level or above (for example, plant group) are not included in the counts. The voucher counts include all specimens identified at least the level of plant group. The row Missing are those speciments to which no identification has been given so far.
Plant Groups Statistics for the United States If we looked at only the collections from the United States, the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 87 480 0.28% Lichens 1,624 10,407 6.11% Mosses 2 8 0.00% Ferns 279 2,356 1.38% Gymnosperms 178 2,279 1.34% Monocots 2,390 24,166 14.18% Dicots 12,313 130,667 76.69% Missing -- 13 0.01% Total 16,873 170,376 100.00%
Plant Groups Statistics for México If we looked at only the collections from México, the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 0 0 0.00% Lichens 198 302 0.85% Mosses 0 0 0.00% Ferns 321 804 2.26% Gymnosperms 73 227 0.64% Monocots 1,169 3,942 11.07% Dicots 7,548 30,343 85.18% Missing -- 4 0.01% Total 9,309 35,622 100.00%
Plant Group Statistics for (Alta) California If we looked at only the collections from California, the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 75 452 0.33% Lichens 1,147 8,837 6.45% Mosses 1 4 0.00% Ferns 182 1,860 1.36% Gymnosperms 131 1,395 1.02% Monocots 1,570 19,254 14.05% Dicots 7,979 105,225 76.79% Missing -- 8 0.01% Total 11,085 137,035 100.00%
Plant Group Statistics for Riverside County If we looked at only the collections from Riverside County (the location of the University of California, Riverside), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 25 71 0.27% Lichens 433 1,456 5.45% Mosses 1 2 0.01% Ferns 51 314 1.18% Gymnosperms 55 148 0.55% Monocots 660 4,059 15.20% Dicots 3,069 20,647 76.79% Missing -- 2 0.01% Total 4,294 26,699 100.00%
Plant Group Statistics for San Bernardino County If we looked at only the collections from San Bernardino County (to the north of Riverside County), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Voucher Count Percentage Fungi 18 55 0.17% Lichens 209 680 2.06% Mosses 0 0 0.00% Ferns 67 397 1.20% Gymnosperms 41 456 1.38% Monocots 564 4,411 13.34% Dicots 2,816 27,055 81.85% Missing -- 2 0.01% Total 3,715 33,056 100.00%
Plant Group Statitics for Los Angeles County If we looked at only the collections from Los Angeles County (to the west of Riverside County and San Bernardino Counties), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 8 18 0.10% Lichens 325 763 4.20% Mosses 0 1 0.01% Ferns 105 380 2.09% Gymnosperms 40 146 0.80% Monocots 495 2,995 16.50% Dicots 2,636 13,843 76.28% Missing -- 2 0.01% Total 3,609 18,148 100.00%
Plant Group Statistics for Ventura County If we looked at only the collections from Ventura County (to the west of Los Angeles County), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 16 45 1.81% Lichens 284 726 29.18% Mosses 0 0 0.00% Ferns 8 19 0.76% Gymnosperms 6 7 0.28% Monocots 150 284 11.41% Dicots 732 1,407 56.55% Missing -- 0 0.00% Total 1,196 2,488 100.00%
Plant Group Statistics for Santa Barbara County If we looked at only the collections from Santa Barbara County (to the west of Los Angeles County), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Voucher Count Percentage Fungi 12 111 2.58% Lichens 213 1,662 38.62% Mosses 0 0 0.00% Ferns 17 46 1.07% Gymnosperms 11 30 0.70% Monocots 222 318 7.39% Dicots 912 2,135 49.62% Missing -- 1 0.02% Total 1,387 3,690 100.00%
Plant Group Statistics for Orange County If we looked at only the collections from Orange County (to the southwest of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 23 25 0.68% Lichens 366 674 18.27% Mosses 0 0 0.00% Ferns 19 34 0.92% Gymnosperms 13 26 0.70% Monocots 161 628 17.02% Dicots 2,991 2,303 62.41% Missing -- 0 0.00% Total 1,573 4,303 100.00%
Plant Group Statistics for San Diego County If we looked at only the collections from Santa San Diego County (to the south of Riverside County), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 18 47 0.42% Lichens 378 981 8.81% Mosses 0 0 0.00% Ferns 44 249 2.24% Gymnosperms 25 66 0.59% Monocots 331 1,504 13.50% Dicots 1,749 8,293 74.44% Missing -- 0 0.00% Total 2,545 11,140 100.00%
Plant Group Statictics for Imperial County If we looked at only the collections from Imperial County (to the south of Riverside County), the different plant groups give the figures below:
Plant Group Species+ Count Specimens Count Percentage Fungi 0 0 0.00% Lichens 6 7 0.32% Mosses 0 0 0.00% Ferns 5 8 0.37% Gymnosperms 6 23 1.06% Monocots 70 199 9.20% Dicots 462 1,926 89.04% Missing -- 0 0.00% Total 549 2,163 100.00%
Counts as of 20 December, 2010