Sacramento State Professor Restores Dormant Campus Herbarium
Mar 25, 2025 12:12PM ● By Cynthia Hubert, Sacramento State UniversitySacramento State University's campus herbarium, dormant for nearly two decades, has been restored to serve as a research and teaching tool with approximately 20,000 plant specimens. Pictured (from left) are students Cami Patiño and Mel Weber with assistant biological sciences professor Marina LaForgia, who oversees the herbarium, examining plant samples that are being digitized for public research access. Photo courtesy of Sacramento State University, Bibiana Ortiz
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - For nearly two decades, Sacramento State University’s campus herbarium lay dormant, its plant specimens hidden and nearly forgotten inside a shuttered lab in Sequoia Hall.
Then, in January 2024, plant ecologist Marina LaForgia joined the Department of Biological Sciences as an assistant professor after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Davis.
LaForgia looked at the herbarium, contaminated by chemical fumes, covered in dust and cluttered with books as well as piles of papers and faulty equipment, and saw potential for bringing it back to life.
Now, the herbarium serves as important research and learning tool for LaForgia and her students. As part of a Plant Taxonomy class, they are combing through 20,000 pressed plant specimens, some dating to the late 1800s.
“The hands-on aspect is my absolute favorite. If I can touch the things that I’m studying, it’s great. Nothing like it,” said Mel Weber, a student assistant.
By fully identifying them and converting them to a digital format, they are helping to fill gaps in understanding of plant distribution over the last century and enabling researchers worldwide to explore past and future plant communities.
“These specimens are super valuable,” said LaForgia. “A lot of people might look at them and just think they are beautiful but they offer so much knowledge. We are creating a really useful scientific record of what grew here and when.”
Student researcher Mel Weber enters data about plant specimens into the CCH2 database at Sacramento State University's recently revitalized herbarium, where more than 4,000 historic plant samples have been imaged in support of scientific research on plant communities and climate change. Photo courtesy of Sacramento State University, Bibiana Ortiz
Most of the Sacramento State specimens, which LaForgia discovered inside closed cabinets, were collected in California by Sac State Professor Emeritus Michael Baad. But others are from places as far away as Japan, the Philippines and Greenland.
The collections hold potential for understanding evolutionary and ecological responses to climate change, land development, plant diseases and pest invasion.
“It’s a snapshot into past plant communities,” LaForgia said.
But Sacramento State’s herbarium, which is attached to the classroom where LaForgia teaches, needed a major overhaul before she could even begin exploring its contents.
“It was a bit overwhelming,” she said.
With the help of Sacramento State Environmental Health and Safety crews, LaForgia and student volunteers decontaminated the specimens stored in cabinets, did some deep cleaning and organized thousands of books and papers.
Additionally, campus facilities staffers patched walls, repainted the room and added a door plate that now proudly reads “Herbarium.”
The formerly neglected space now offers a hands-on learning experience for students, such as Cami Patiño and Mel Weber, who are evaluating the specimens and adding them to a public database, CCH2, operated by the Consortium of California Herbaria.
Specimens are mounted on paper and kept in folders that were left unopened for over 20 years. Some even contain detailed handwritten notes from collectors.
Weber and Patiño described opening each folder as similar to unwrapping a Christmas present.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” said Weber.
After evaluating each specimen, the students attach a barcode to it and upload it to the CHH2 database.
“The hands-on aspect is my absolute favorite,” said Weber, who works as a student assistant on the project. “If I can touch the things that I’m studying, it’s great. Nothing like it.”
Thus far, students have imaged more than 4,000 specimens, with many cabinets yet to be explored.
Working with the specimens in the Plant Taxonomy lab is one of Patiño’s favorite activities at Sac State, she said.
“I love the lab here,” Patiño said. “Some labs can be tedious, but this one is super fun.”
The students hope to parlay their studies into graduate programs or jobs in plant ecology.
Restoring the herbarium has been satisfying work and will pay dividends for years to come, LaForgia said, adding that student involvement in the project has been especially rewarding.
Professor Marina LaForgia (left) and student Mel Weber examine pressed plant specimens in Sacramento State's herbarium, where hands-on work with historic collections provides students valuable research experience in preparation for careers or graduate studies. Photo courtesy of Sacramento State University, Bibiana Ortiz
The once-dormant herbarium is now contributing to new discoveries about the history and diversity of plant life in California and beyond and offers an unprecedented learning opportunity for Sacramento State students, LaForgia said.
After finishing her University of California, Davis fellowship, LaForgia explored positions at various universities. The opportunity to work one-on-one with students at Sacramento State University was enticing, as was the presence of the herbarium, despite its dilapidated state.
“I never thought I would be running an herbarium but the experience has been really great,” said LaForgia. “I absolutely love our students. They are driven and I really enjoy working with them. And once we have everything digitized, we will have all kinds of interesting research questions to explore.”