R.L. McGregor Herbarium: A Botanical Resource at KU

Topeka Audubon Society

Come learn about the R.L. McGregor Herbarium - the collection's history & holdings & contributions to projects to document the flora of Kansas, the Great Plains & the North American continent.

The R.L. McGregor Herbarium was established in 1866 when the University of Kansas opened its doors. With nearly 500,000 preserved specimens of flowering plants, ferns, lichens, and fungi, it is now among the largest collections documenting the floristic diversity of the central North American grasslands. An overview will be presented of the collection’s history and holdings, efforts to make its specimen data widely accessible to researchers and the public, and contributions to projects to document the flora of Kansas, the Great Plains, and the North American continent.

Craig C. Freeman is Senior Curator in the R.L. McGregor Herbarium and Senior Scientist in the Kansas Biological Survey, both at the University of Kansas.  He holds a BA in biology from Wartburg College, and MS and PhD degrees in biology from Kansas State University.  Craig has more than 45 years of field experience in the Great Plains, Midwest, Rocky Mountains, and Intermountain West, and has published extensively in the fields of plant taxonomy and systematics, floristics, and prairie conservation.  He is the co-author of four books: Roadside Wildflowers of the Southern Great Plains (1991), An Illustrated Guide to Endangered and Threatened Species in Kansas (1995), Kansas Wildflowers and Weeds (2015), and Tree, Shrubs, and Woody Vines in Kansas (2019).

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