The University of Massachusetts Herbarium dates, like the other Natural History Collections, to the founding of the University in 1866. It has grown rapidly since, and now boasts more than a quarter million unique specimens of preserved plants. It continues to grow at the rate of at least a thousand specimens a year. About one half of these collections are from New England, while the other half are global in scope, with particular strengths in the Appalachians, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and the Island nations of the Pacific. As the largest public herbarium in Massachusetts, it is actively used in teaching, research, and outreach, and as part of its extension mission is the herbarium of record for the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program.