A grant has been awarded to Iowa State University under the direction of Dr. Lynn Clark to acquire new herbarium cabinets and construct an online database for the bryophyte and moonwort (ancient relatives of ferns in the genus Botrychium) collections in the Ada Hayden Herbarium at the university. The collections hold approximately 90,000 specimens. They provide an important regional sample of bryophytes from the Midwest and elsewhere. The moonwort collection is unique being part of a long-term genetic study of these plants, which live in association with underground fungi and have an unusual morphology. A database will also be made for the Iowa Fungal Survey. Most of the collections of mosses and fern allies are now stored in nonarchival packets, and the funding will allow their transfer to acid-free paper packets. The purchase of 42 cabinets will relieve overcrowding of the collections, which have grown recently by the addition of the University of Iowa herbarium to the Hayden Herbarium at ISU. A graduate student will supervise the database work, which will include undergraduates for data entry. These students will gain knowledge of database design and herbarium curation.
