The vascular plants herbarium encompasses the Estonian plants herbarium, herbarium generale, Baer’s herbarium, a seed collection, and a small sized dendrological collection. Additionally, it houses a variety of materials including different paper-based catalogues, field diaries, photographs, photo negatives, and a systematically organized postcard collection with plant images.
The Estonian Herbarium consists of over 163,000 herbarium sheets. An essential part of this collection was collected in the latter half of the 20th century during extensive research into Estonia’s flora. The primary collectors were some of Estonia’s most esteemed botanists of the era, including Maret Kask, Linda Viljasoo, Vilma Kuusk, Heljo Krall, Livia-Maria Laasimer, Visolde Puusepp, Haide-Ene Rebassoo, Silvia Talts, Ella Tammemägi, among others. Their botanical research culminated in the creation of the 11-volume “Flora of the Estonian SSR”.
More recently, in 2020, the “Atlas of the Estonian Flora 2020” was published. During this work over 23,000 specimens were collected which are housed now in TAA herbarium.
95% of the herbarium of vascular plants collected from Estonia has been digitized, which means that the specimen records include both collection data and a photograph of the specimen. The more historical part of the collection dates from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. It contains specimens from many botanists of that time, such as Alexander Georg von Bunge, Paul Lackschewitz, Theodor Lackschewitz, Johannes Klinge, Carl Maximowitsch, Karl Reinhold Kupffer, Rudolf Lehbert, Alexander von Schrenk, Julius Killoman, Hugo Kapp, Gustav Vilbaste, and others.
The collection’s historical section includes the “Flora exsiccata Liv-. Esth- und Kurlands” by Alexander Georg von Bunge, with 1700 herbarium sheets from 1849-1853. This is the first major botanical documentation from this region and marks the start of scientific botanical research in Estonia.
The collection also has several smaller private collections:
- Jakob Esser’s collection (780 specimens)
- Priidu Kohava’s collection (600 specimens)
- August Muuga’s collection (300 specimens)
- Tiiu Trei’s aquatic collection (600 specimens)
- Taavi Tuulik’s Hiiumaa collection (1500 specimens)
- Gustav Vilbaste’s collection (9800 specimens)
- Ellen Vilbaste’s collection (800 specimens)
- Malle Leht’s legume collection (900 specimens), mainly non-native species to Estonia, including 106 species from Lathyrus and Vicia.
The Herbarium Generale, with approximately 21,000 specimens, predominately features material from the Russian Arctic, Siberia, European Russia, Central Asia, the Far East, the Caucasus, North America, Central and Southern Europe, the Nordic countries, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Karl Ernst von Baer’s Herbarium, dating back to the 19th century and comprising about 12,000 herbarium sheets, is preserved as an independent collection. Its materials originate from Western Europe, Siberia, the Caucasus, the Caspian region, and other areas of Asia and Africa, with a considerable portion sourced from Estonia. This herbarium is accessible to the public through the PlutoF database and the eBiodiversity portal at: https://elurikkus.ee/projects/karl-ernst-von-baer
