ScienceAugust 18, 2026

herbarium

hur-BAIR-ee-um

Definition

A systematic collection of dried and pressed plant specimens, organized and preserved for scientific research and reference.

Etymology

Derived from the Latin 'herbarium', meaning a collection of herbs, which stems from 'herba', the Latin word for grass or herb.

In the news

The article discusses how physical herbaria are being digitized to allow AI to analyze millions of plant samples globally, helping researchers track climate change effects like shifts in flowering times.

AI and 8 million digitized plant specimens reveal how the climate is changing nature in large parts of the world

Read the full article ↗

Phys.org

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