Collections
University of Leicester Herbarium (LTR)
Historical Notes
The University of Leicester herbarium (LTR) was founded in 1945 by Professor TG Tutin. It began with his own collections and those of the first curator, EK Horwood, together with gifts from such institutions as Kew, Vienna, Geneva and Cambridge. Donations from private individuals were also a significant part of the early collection, and there is material from ND Simpson, JE Lousely, CE Hubbard and EC Wallace. By 1953 the herbarium was estimated to hold approximately 26,000 specimens, and by 1978 the total number was believed to be about 102,000. In 1992 there were an estimated 120,000 specimens.
Scope and Organisation
The herbarium specialises in vascular plants from the British Isles, Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. Collections are arranged mostly according to Flora Europaea, the sequence and circumscription of families being that of Melchior in Engler & Diels, Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien, 12th ed., 1964.
Important Collectors and Collections
Voucher specimens for a number of systematic and floristic studies of the British and European flora are deposited in LTR. They include:
Gornall RJ and Bailey JP. A cytological catalogue of the British and Irish flora. BSBI Database, Leicester.
Polunin O. (1969). Flowers of Europe.
Polunin O and Smythies BE. (1973). Flowers of south-west Europe.
Polunin O and Walters M. (1985). A guide to the vegetation of Britain and Europe. Oxford.
Roles SJ. (1957-1965). Flora of the British Isles. Illustrations. Vols 1-4. Cambridge.
Tutin TG. (1980). Umbellifers of the British Isles. London.
