National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI)

National Museums Northern Ireland is a conglomerate of four separate museums. The Ulster Museum in Belfast holds a natural history collection that represents over 300 years of scientific study. We have a diverse collection of more than half a million botany, geology and zoology specimens.  

The herbarium of the Ulster Museum (BEL) contains an estimated 100,000 plant specimens. It contains vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, algae and fungi. Most are in the form of dried, pressed specimens mounted on paper sheets. The collection is an amalgamation of several smaller herbaria including the Queen’s University Belfast herbarium and the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club, as well as material collected by museum curators. It is now the only herbarium in Northern Ireland. The oldest specimen dates from the late 18th century and we have a strong collection from the 19th century. The geographic reach of the collection includes specimens from India, China, Australia, South America, North America and Arctic plants. Unsurprisingly, we hold the most comprehensive collection of Northern Irish plant specimens.  

Important contributors to our collection include many famous figures in Irish botany, for example, John Templeton (“the father of Irish Botany), Robert Praeger, William Henry Harvey, Samuel Alexander Stewart, William Thompson, Margaret Rae and Sylvanus Wear. In addition to plant specimens, the collection has important archival items including: manuscripts, rare books, letters, field notes, botanical art, wax models, photographs, microscope slides and miscellaneous items. Notable works include the Grete Herball of 1526 the first illustrated English herbal and the diaries of John Templeton. Individually these items are of important scientific and heritage value collectively it is a unique and irreplaceable repository of botanical information. We welcome researchers to the collection by appointment and we have begun the process of digitisation with the aim of making the collection more accessible to the public.