Herbarium
The UTEP Herbarium contains an international collection of over 82,000 catalogued plant specimens, curated by Richard D. Worthington and Michael L. Moody. This includes one of the most extensive Chihuahuan Desert collections in the world and specimens relating directly to plant surveys conducted by Richard Worthington of New Mexico and West Texas for State Parks and the National Forest Service. Historical collections include the Slater Collection from Elsie McElroy Slater, the first El Pasoan to collect in El Paso. The dry climate and relatively pest-free environs of the El Paso area make for excellent specimen preservation and color retention.
Data standards are high, and many sheets representing material collected by UTEP-BC personnel are accompanied by a detailed locality map. Although taxonomy, specimen identifications and associated data are constantly reviewed, errors such as outdated names, mistaken identifications and erroneous collection event information do occur in our database. Investigators should verify identifications by examination of specimens. Collection data is currently available through Arctos.
