The National Fungus Collections of the United States is the "world's largest

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

of dried fungus specimens".U.S. National Fungus Collections
, USDA (last visited Aug. 22, 2012). It is housed within the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

(USDA). The collection was established in 1869 from a core of fungus collections transferred from the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

to the USDA.

Frank Lamson-Scribner Frank Lamson-Scribner (April 19, 1851 – February 22, 1938) was an American botanist and pioneering plant pathologist. He was the first United States Department of Agriculture scientist hired to study plant disease in economic plants and first USDA ...

(1885-1891) and Franklin S. Earle (1891-1896) were the first two directors, followed by

Flora Wambaugh Patterson Flora Wambaugh Patterson (1847–1928) was an American mycologist, and the first female plant pathologist hired by the United States Department of Agriculture.Amy Y. Rossman"Flora W. Patterson: The First Woman Mycologist at the USDA" (Reviewe ...

in 1896. Patterson vastly increased the size of the collection from approximately 19,000 reference specimens to almost 115,000.Amy Y. Rossman
"Flora W. Patterson: The First Woman Mycologist at the USDA"
(Reviewed feature article), ASP.net (last visited August 22, 2012). Patterson and other mycologists at the collection during Patterson's tenure, including Vera K. Charles, identified numerous commercially threatening fungi, including the bubble disease of mushrooms (1909), the potato wart disease (''

Synchytrium endobioticum ''Synchytrium endobioticum'' is a chytrid fungus that causes the potato wart disease, or black scab. It also infects some other plants of the genus ''Solanum'', though potato is the only cultivated host. Systematics Traditionally, ''Synchytriu ...

''), and

chestnut blight The pathogenic fungus ''Cryphonectria parasitica'' (formerly ''Endothia parasitica'') is a member of the Ascomycota (sac fungi). This necrotrophic fungus is native to East Asia and South East Asia and was introduced into Europe and North America ...

. These and other invasive diseases led to the passage of the

Plant Quarantine Act of 1912 The Plant Quarantine Act, originally enacted in 1912 (7 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), gave the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) authority to regulate the importation and interstate movement of nursery stock and other plants that may carry ...

. These scientists were part of a wave of government-funded research into agriculture and disease. Vera Charles also worked on fungal pathogens of insects. The National Fungus Collection also hired a number of other scientists all of whom did significant work on economically important crops. These included Anna E. Jenkins, hired in 1912, who became the "foremost authority" on spot-anthracnose fungi. Edith K. Cash, hired in 1913, investigated

discomycetes Discomycetes is a former taxonomic class of Ascomycete fungi which contains all of the cup, sponge and brain fungi and some club-like fungi. It includes typical cup fungi like the scarlet elf cup and the orange peel fungus, and fungi with frui ...

(cup fungi) and William W. Diehl (hired in 1917) wrote extensively on ''

Balansia ''Balansia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Clavicipitaceae. Species from this genus have been found to produce an ergopeptine Ergoline is a chemical compound whose structural skeleton is contained in a variety of alkaloids, referred to as ...

'' which causes sterility in grass plants. After Patterson's retirement, James R. Weir ran the collection for four years; his work at the collection ultimately led to use of ''

Neurospora ''Neurospora'' is a genus of Ascomycete fungi. The genus name, meaning "nerve spore" refers to the characteristic striations on the spores that resemble axons. The best known species in this genus is ''Neurospora crassa'', a common model organi ...

'' as a

model organism A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...

for genetic research.

External links

National Fungus Collections
at the US Department of Agriculture.

Notes

{{authority control Herbaria in the United States United States Department of Agriculture agencies 1869 establishments in the United States