​Botany

​Student Opportunities

We typically hire 5-10 students every semester as herbarium assistants. Herbarium assistants mount and file specimens, identify, label, and photograph specimens, organize and curate the herbarium library or any of the smaller collections. Biology or Forestry majors are preferred, ideally those who have completed or are concurrently enrolled in a course in plant taxonomy or have other experience with plant identification. Students should be able to come in regularly or should be semi-independent. Work-study is preferred, but students without work-study can work up to 5 hours a week in the collection. Students can also earn credit instead of wages through BIOL 399. Interest forms should be sent to Stephanie Lyon at slyon@uwsp.edu.

​Current Research

Students, staff, herbarium affiliates, and visitors regularly utilize the herbarium collection for a variety of research purposes. Current projects include family treatments for a new state flora (in conjunction with UW-Madison), research on DNA barcoding of sedges and orchid seed micromorphology, and the development a checklist for the Treehaven property. Around a dozen students currently work in the UWSP herbarium, some as paid employees and others for academic credit. We have around 190,000 catalogued specimens in the vascular plant collection, around 40,000 bryophyte specimens, and several hundred fungi and lichen specimens. We also maintain an accessory collection of dried fruit, seed, and cone structures.