Fungarium of the Swedish Museum of Natural History

The botanical collections of the Swedish Museum of Natural History include one of the large European fungaria. On 30 July 2026 the public catalogue gave around 670,000 fungal and lichen specimens, of which more than 575,000 were registered digitally. Among them were tens of thousands of type specimens. The figures may grow as the stores are worked through, and they do not mean that many different species.

This is a research collection, not a hall of permanent display. Every sheet, box or packet should link material to a number, a name, a place, a date, a collector and a history of identifications. The catalogue also allows synonyms of fungi and lichens to be searched, and a list of specimens to be prepared before contacting a curator. Citing a registration number makes it possible to return later to the same piece of evidence.

After several years of refurbishment the collections resumed loans, and visits were opened gradually. A researcher should write to herbarium@nrm.se, set out the purpose and wait for confirmation. Travel should not be booked on the basis of the museum's general opening hours. Access to the stores, to types and to sampling has separate rules, and loans are directed to recognised institutions.

The museum's public address is Frescativägen 40 in Stockholm, near the Universitetet metro station; the postal and technical address of the collections may differ. Accessibility needs should be discussed at the time of booking. Even without a visit the catalogue offers real value: it shows distribution, substrate and former nomenclature, not merely a photograph of a fruiting body torn out of its documentation.

Preparing an enquiry should include the current name, possible synonyms, the region, the collector's name and the numbers of published types. That allows staff to assess the scope of work and prepare material without unnecessarily opening many boxes. Photographs of labels should be kept together with the catalogue number. An institution may refuse a sample or temporarily withdraw a specimen; protecting the evidence takes precedence over the convenience of a single project.

What is actually in the catalogue

The Swedish Museum of Natural History reports about 670,000 fungal specimens. Its collection catalogue lists 576,507 registered units—roughly 86% of the whole—and 32,768 type specimens. “Registered” does not necessarily mean “imaged,” and a type record is not automatically confirmation of the currently accepted name. Those distinctions matter more than the large headline number. The access page retained a temporary notice referring to the second half of 2025, so it should not be presented as current 2026 opening information. A research visit, loan or sampling request must be arranged with the collection curator, with current restrictions confirmed immediately before use.