If you are seeing a list of links above this line rather than rotating images you may need to upgrade your Flash player to a newer version, or enable javascript on your browser.
Coauthor -
Austin Peay State University
Center of Excellence for Field Biology
The taxonomic emphasis of the vascular plant collection is reflected in the historically broad interests of the TENN staff and students in floristics and phytogeography. In general, the collection may be best described as one with a strong emphasis on widespread and/or temperate taxa. Even though the collection houses representative specimens of the world's flora, it is unique in having the largest collection of specimens from the state of Tennessee, the historical collections documenting the flora of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (a World Biosphere Reserve), and the large, general collection from throughout the southern Appalachians. Significant and representative collections are also present from the remainder of the U. S., including Alaska, Central and South America, and the Old World.
The pteridophyte collection is more cosmopolitan than the rest of the vascular plant collection due, in large part, to the collecting and exchange of A. M. Evans and A. J. Sharp. About 50% is from Tennessee, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the rest from North America N of Mexico. About 30% is from Central and South America and the West Indies, i. e., Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Mexico, and Costa Rica; and the remainder from the Old World, especially Taiwan, Japan, and western Europe. TENN houses extensive collections of vascular plant taxa, long cited in botanical literature, as classic examples showing the phytogeographic relationships of the flora of Tennessee and the southern Appalachians with that of southeastern Asia, the highlands of Mexico, and the western U. S. Again, no other moderate sized and few major U. S. herbaria can match TENN in its holdings of specimens critical to future studies in these areas of phytogeography and biodiversity in the Eastern US.
Scientific and public outreach is exemplified by the vascular plant web site which hosts nearly 7000 photos and distribution maps of Tennessee plants.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact Dr. B. Eugene Wofford.
