Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - Fungarium Specimens

The Fungarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew contains the largest collection of dried fungi in the world. Together with the CABI collection [collection code IMI], it contains about 1.25 million specimens, including the British National Collections (ca. 300,000 specimens), approximately 50,000 types, and other specimens from over 240 countries on all seven continents. The collection was founded in 1879 with the donation of 20,000 specimens from the Rev. Miles J. Berkeley, and continues to grow. Many important historical specimens are maintained in the Fungarium, including specimens collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle. These collections remain the focus of much active collections-based research pursued by the Kew Mycology Team.