Herbaria and similar scientific collections are some of our most overlooked and underappreciated scientific assets. In Aotearoa, New Zealand there are a number of Nationally Significant Collections and Databases (NSCDs) which hold preserved specimens of our native biodiversity and environmental taonga, both past and present, for use in research and study. One such collection that I had the privilege of getting to know over the summer of 2024-25 was The New Zealand Fungarium - Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa, Plant Disease Division (PDD), which is operated by the Crown Research Institute Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research (MWLR). This collection and its accompanying digitized portal contains over 120,000 dried specimens and 3000 types representing the fungal diversity of NZ and other localities [1].

The specimens are carefully stored at 15 C° in archival packets and boxes in rows of lockers and sliding cabinets in a massive concrete PC2 vault facility, and serve a myriad of uses. One such use is as a research aid on plant pathology; providing physical specimens whose characters can still be examined decades after drying. This allows us to identify and study devastating plant pathogens such as those which cause Myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii) and Kauri Dieback (Phytophthora agathidicida), or those which may pose a new risk to biosecurity.

More obvious is the Fungarium’s use as a repository and informal time-series of the fungal ecology of Aotearoa New Zealand; seeing which specimens are occurring where, as different substrates fall under examination over time. It is this role which might be interesting to most, enamoured as we have all become with toadstools and puffballs. Many of Aotearoa New Zealand’s charismatic mushroom forming genera, such as the bright blue Werewere-kokako (Entoloma hochsteterii), are stored, studied and described by the team at the PDD Fungarium in co-operation with overseas researchers and domestic experts both amateur and professional.

Along with the International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP), the Fungarium also acts as a genetic resource to advance our understanding of systematics and phylogeny. The genomes of the specimens present can be sequenced, and made available to international researchers interested in the genetics and biochemistry of fungi. Even its role as a protective treasure chest is vital, preserving rare and notable specimens which the average person would only be very lucky to discover, or which no longer exist in the wild. It should be apparent the value that collections like this and others in Aotearoa New Zealand hold.

Despite that value, to outside observers herbaria (and fungaria) and other collections can seem anachronistic. Large and expensive physical artifacts much like a museum collection, but even less profitable. Indeed, the PDD Fungarium possesses many mementos of older days. 100-year-old specimens crowded in fading yellow packets, a wall of physical journal separates from the era when it was necessary to send to Wellington or England for the exact pages you needed, and boxes of research materials on metal shelves from decades ago that have not had eyes laid on them since they were first packed away. This air of age hangs heavy when considering the wider closure of so many collections across the world (over 100 in the USA alone since 1997), the most recent and one of the most significant of which being that of the Duke University herbarium, announced in 2024 [2], [3].