Importance of Fungaria: Preserving the Past, Protecting the Future

Herbaria around the world are important repositories, housing collections of preserved organic specimens. These storage facilities serve as invaluable resources for scientific research, education, and conservation. Herbaria have long been recognized as critical repositories for botanical knowledge, fungaria—dedicated to fungi—are increasingly gaining attention for their unique role in understanding biodiversity. Together, these collections provide essential insights into the natural world, helping us address pressing environmental challenges such as climate change, habitat loss, and species extinction. 

Fungaria consist of preserved fungal specimens, often in the form of dried sporocarps (fruiting bodies) the reproductive structures of fungi—visible manifestations of mycelial networks. These collections are meticulously cataloged to include detailed metadata about their morphology, habitat, and collection location. Fungaria represent centuries of exploration and documentation of life forms across the globe. Fungaria provide historical data that can be used to study how plants and fungi respond to environmental changes. Fungarium specimens have similarly been used to investigate changes in fungal phenology (e.g., sporocarp emergence) and geographic distributions in response to climate change. 

The largest scientific collection of fungi in the world is housed in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, England. Mandie got the chance to visit there after the All Things Fungi Festival in September 2024, and meet the amazing, fun, and eccentric Curator of Fungi, Lee Davies who is pictured in the photo above. The Fungarium at Kew houses a mind-blowing 1.25 million fungal specimens!! 

 "All of the specimens here are the parts of fungi responsible for reproduction – making all of this about 1.3 million boxes of genitals." - Lee Davies

Of all the neat stuff that we saw at Kew Fungarium, some crowd favorites were their displays of ethnomycological remains, demonstrating how humans have utilized fungi across time. For example, Kew preserves Nepalese masks created from polypores by primitive tribes for ceremonial utility, as well as these necklaces (below) made of truffles, used as both food and decoration by cultures in the Himalayan foothills during the late 1800s. Now important cultural artifacts, these fungi are preserved in the context of historical human use by the existence of fungaria. 

Historical records allow scientists to track changes in fungal distributions over time. Fungaria play a vital role in documenting fungal diversity—particularly important since 95% of species remain undescribed. Fungarium records have been used to help assess red-listed fungi species and study invasive fungal pathogens. Collections serve as educational resources for students, researchers, and the public. Fungaria highlight fungi’s ecological importance—for instance, their role in nutrient cycling or as indicators of environmental health. The digitization of herbaria has revolutionized botanical research by making specimen data accessible worldwide. Fungaria are following suit; initiatives like Kew Gardens’ fungarium digitization project aim to unlock vast amounts of data for global use. 

Collections are particularly valuable for:

• Documenting plant-fungus interactions (e.g., pathogenic rusts or mutualistic mycorrhizae)

• Identifying fungal pathogens threatening crops or forests

• Discovering new species or traits with bioprospecting applications in medicine or biotechnology

In areas of high biodiversity and endemism fungaria are particularly valuable. We do a lot of field work in Ecuador, and we have an incredible relationship with the INABIO Herbarium, and the Curator of Fungi in particular, Rosa Batallas (seen in her lab coat in the photo below). Having her knowledge and expertise on our Adventure Foray in 2025 was irreplaceable!! Rosa is smart, funny, and fabulous! We worked to collect fungi together in the field, and then met her back at the herbarium to deliver presentations on our research for the INABIO audience.

Our friend in Ecuador Kamilo Santana is the only investigator currently collecting fungi for the National Herbarium. He singlehandedly made over 700 collections of macrofungi since March 2024, accounting for 12% of macrofungi in the entire herbarium (wow!) In 2024 and 2025, we were able to make some amazing collections with Kamilo and our other students by our side, all of which will be deposited into the INABIO Herbarium. Soon we will have sequences for all the interesting fungi we collected over the last few years, like this mysterious fungus that grows on palm nuts in the Amazon (photo below). 

Despite their immense value, many collections face budget constraints which is a continuous threat to their preservation. The importance of these repositories is often overlooked by policymakers. At Mycena we advocate for the utility of fungaria and emphasize their relevance.

Fungaria are far more than static archives—they are dynamic resources that connect us to the past while equipping us to address the deep environmental challenges of today. By preserving these collections and expanding their use through modern technologies, we can ensure they continue to play a pivotal role in safeguarding life’s diversity for future generations.  

References 

Hepburn, J. (2023, May 10). World’s largest collection of fungus under Kew Gardens. SW Londoner. https://www.swlondoner.co.uk/life/10052023-worlds-largest-collection-of-fungus-under-kew-gardens

Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO). (2025). Retrieved from http://inabio.biodiversidad.gob.ec/

Niskanen, T., Lücking, R., Dahlberg, A., Gaya, E., Suz, L.M., Mikryukov, V., Liimatainen, K., Druzhinina, I., Westrip, J.R.S., Mueller, G.M., Martins-Cunha, K., Kirk, P., Tedersoo, L., & Antonelli, A. (2023). Pushing the Frontiers of Biodiversity Research: Unveiling the Global Diversity, Distribution, and Conservation of Fungi. Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 48(1), 149-176. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-112621-090937

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (2025). Fungarium Collection. Retrieved from https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/fungarium