Division of Life Sciences
Botany | Vertebrates | Mammalogy | Herpetology | Ichthyology | Ornithology
The Botany Collection
The Ray J. Davis Herbarium (IDS), was established in 1931 by Davis, a professor of botany at Idaho State University from 1930-1965. Davis systematically collected specimens from throughout Idaho each summer, culminating in the publication of "Flora of Idaho" in 1952 (now out of print). During Davis' tenure the collection grew to over 35,000 specimens. In 1965, Dr. Karl Holte became curator. He and his students built the collection to over 60,000 specimens through their many floristic surveys of Idaho. A well known botanist, teacher and conservationist, Dr. Holte retired in 1997, but continues to actively serve as Curator Emeritus of the Herbarium. Dr. Rick Williams was appointed curator in 2008, and continues to pursue his research in pollination biology at the Rocky Mountain Biological laboratory in Colorado each summer. The Herbarium currently holds over 70,000 specimens of vascular plants, over 3,000 specimens of lichens, and 30 type specimens. Two of the type specimens, Hackelia davisii and Cirsium davisii, are species discovered by and named in honor of Ray J. Davis.
The geographic scope of the bulk of the collection is Idaho and the surrounding western states. There is also representative and comparative material from throughout the United States and some foreign material. The emphasis of the collection is the flora of Idaho, particularly Southeastern Idaho.
For more information please contact:
Dr. Rick Williams
Curator of Botany, Life Sciences Division Head
willcha2@isu.edu
(208) 282-2948
Ms. Janet Bala
Collections Manager Life Sciences
balajane@isu.edu
(208) 282-2815
Dr. Karl Holte
Curator Emeritus
plantprof@live.com