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Paleobotany Collection:
About Our Holdings
The UCMP paleobotanical collection contains type specimens (ca. 12,000)
and non-type specimens (ca. 350,000) of plants, algae, and fungi from localities
worldwide. A searchable on-line catalog is available.
Although the collections range in age from Precambrian to Recent, UCMP's
strength lies in its unique collection of western North American Tertiary
paleofloras. Our current knowledge of the history and development of the
western North American flora over the last 50+ million years is based heavily
on UCMP's collections. Moreover, the collections have played an integral
role in understanding western North American paleogeography, and the past
climatic changes that have shaped this region's modern biota. Many of our
collections are not duplicated by holdings in other institutions and come
from sites no longer accessible to collectors.
UCMP also houses the following reference and special collections:
- Modern cleared leaf collection consisting of over 2000 prepared slides
that include conifer and angiosperm taxa, and photograph reproduction
of the USGS's cleared leaf collection, which is now housed at the National
Museum of Natural History.
- Modern pollen slide collection.
- Collection of conifer cones and leaves representing the modern western
North American flora.
- An extensive in-house paleobotanical library comprised of books and
reprints, many rare and now out of print.
- Los Angeles County Museum paleobotanical collection.
For more information on these collections, contact the paleobotany
collection manager.
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