Register herePlants like trees, shrubs, flowers, and ferns are known as vascular plants, which means they have inner structures that transport water, sugar, and nutrients around their bodies. Learn about new and familiar plants while we explore different groups and their features.
We are home to the largest herbarium in Western Canada, holding more than 650,000 specimens, some dating back as far as 1804. A herbarium is a museum of dried plant specimens. Herbaria provide a permanent record of our changing flora over time, documenting all plant species discovered so far, their variation, and their past and present distributions. These specimens also hold a treasure trove of anatomical, chemical, ethnobotanical, and molecular information, and document the history of plant exploration.