Vainio’s lichen collection (TUR-V)

Vainio’s lichen collection is amongst the most important lichenological collections in the world, and is the best known of the herbarium’s collections. It has 35 000 specimens from all over the world (e.g. Brazil, the Philippines, Antarctica, Zimbabwe, Angola, Madagascar, Thailand and the Caribbean). It is valuable because of its thousands of type specimens. These are specimens which have been used to describe a new species. Modern taxonomy can only advance by reinvestigating such specimens, so Vainio’s specimens are regularly sent on loan to different parts of the world.