46 
EAST WING. 
British 
Plants. 
Sloane*s 
Herbarium. 
The extensive series of Fungi, including collections from various 
botanists, has been lately increased by the bequest of the valuable 
herbarium of the late C. E. Broome, Esq. 
Herbarium of There is a separate Herbarium of British plants, based on the 
collections formed by Sowerby in the preparation of his great 
work, 'English Botany.' This is, perhaps, the largest and 
most interesting public Herbarium of British plants, and its 
value is constantly increasing by additions from botanists who 
make the British Flora their special study. 
The extensive Herbarium formed by Sir Hans Sloane became 
the property of the nation in 1753, along with his other collec- 
tions. The plants gathered by himself in Jamaica form the 
nucleus of this Herbarium, and added to them are the collections 
of Petiver, Buddie, Plukenet, Kaempfer, Kamel, Merrett, Boer- 
haave, Vaillant, Banister, and others. According to the practice 
of the time these plants are preserved in large folio volumes, of 
which there are altogether 310. This collection had been placed 
in the library of the British Museum, and remained there until 
the establishment of the Department of Botany, when it was 
transferred to the care of Mr. Brown. The plants are well 
preserved, and are catalogued in a copy of Eay's 'Historia 
Plantarum,' so that they can be easily consulted. 
The collections formed by Hermann in Ceylon, from which Lin- 
naeus prepared his 'Flora Zeylonica,' are preserved in five volumes, 
four containing plants, and the fifth consisting of drawings. 
The department also contains the singularly interesting and 
valuable collection of plants gathered in 1663 by John Eay in 
his travels in Europe, a catalogue of which was published in 
his account of the journey in 1673. 
In these various Herbaria the Museum possesses an unri- 
valled series of historical collections from the middle of the 
seventeenth century to the present time. 
Besides the collection of dried plants forming the Herbarium, 
there are two allied collections arranged in the same gallery in 
parallel series. The one is the collection of fruits and seeds 
occupying the table cabinets in the centre of the gallery, and 
the other the collection of woods placed in the smaller cabinets 
in the centre of each bay. The position of the cabinets has 
permitted the arrangement of the specimens belonging to these 
Hay's 
Collection 
Collection of 
Fruits, Seeds, 
and Woods. 
