Fungal Collection

The mycological collection of the United Herbaria Z+ZT are kept separately in the ‘Fungarium’ located in the CHN building of the ETH center. The Fungarium houses an estimated 1 million of dried specimens and covers all groups of fungi, lichens and fungus-like organisms. The specimens stem from every part of the globe though the geographic focus is central Europe. The Fungarium comprises the mycological collection of the University of Bern and important material collected by Eduard Fischer Ernst Gäumann, Eugène Mayor and Reinhard Berndt (plant parasitic fungi, especially rust fungi), Egon Horak (e.g. southern hemisphere and arcto-alpine ‘macromycetes’), Beatrice Senn-Irlet (mainly basidiomycetes), Edwin Schild (‘coral-fungi’ of the genus Ramaria and related groups), Emil Müller (mainly ascomycetes), Fritz Oehl (Glomeromycota) and Ernst Stitzenberger (lichenized ascomycetes). The Fungarium continues to grow mainly by donations from Swiss mycologists, scientific institutions or collecting expeditions.

Past digitization efforts have focused on plant pathogenic fungi of which the Fungarium holds approximately 100’000 specimens and 2’500 types. Current research and digitization focus on the important type holdings of the Fungarium across all fungal groups, with a specific focus on conservation relevant macromycetes.

Specimens are sent out on loan to scientific institutions and researchers can visit the Fungarium by appointment with the curator. Guided tours to the interested public are offered on request.

The digitized holdings of the Fungarium are accessible on NAHIMA, the database of the natural history collections of the ETH Zurich.

For loans and other requests please contact the Fungarium:

Email:   |   Phone: +41 44 632 61 13

Or the Curators directly: