Welcome to The Kriebel Herbarium (PUL)
The vascular plant collection at Purdue University is the oldest in the state of Indiana and has been in existence since the very inception of the University. Though established in 1869, only six professors had been hired to teach at Purdue University as of 1874, with one of these being botanist Rev. John Hussey (1831–1888). Hussey brought his personal plant collection as a teaching aid for his students, and some of his specimens are still in the Kriebel Herbarium (PUL) to this day. The modern PUL is the consolidation of three historical herbaria, those being the original started by Hussey (also known as the Stanley Coulter Herbarium), the vascular plant collections of Joseph C. Arthur, and the private herbarium of Ralph M. Kriebel (1897–1946), which was the largest, in excess of 10,000 specimens of Indiana flora, when the PUL was dedicated to Kriebel in 1961. Learn more about the history of the PUL here. This consolidated collection, now managed by the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, comprises approximately 90,000 specimens, including vascular plants, algae, bryophytes and fungi.
Over 90,000 specimens
Over 50% of collections from Indiana and the Great Lakes regions of US and Canada
Approximately 700 type specimens of vascular plants
Over 90,000 specimens
Over 50% of collections from Indiana and the Great Lakes regions of US and Canada
Approximately 700 type specimens of vascular plants
Facts and Resources
View the digitalized PUL records
The collections and collectors that began it all
General George Custer, ferns of Indiana, and more!
Facts about the holdings of the Kriebel Herbarium
Porter CL, Porter JN, 1930. The Stanley Coulter Herbarium at Purdue University. Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science 40: 115–118. Link here.
Webster GL. 1961. The Kriebel Herbarium at Purdue University. Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science 71: 233–234. Link here.