Fungal Collection

The mycological collections of the herbarium are kept separately in a ‘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 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 Berne and important material collected by Eduard Fischer and Ernst Gäumann (especially rust fungi), Egon Horak (e.g. southern hemisphere and arcto-alpine ‘macromycetes’), 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. Current research and an ongoing digitization programme focus on rust fungi that are represented in the Fungarium by almost 60,000 specimens including some 700 types.

Specimens are sent out on loan to scientific institutions and researchers can visit the Fungarium by appointment with the curator. Public access to the collection is not granted but guided tours are offered regularly.

For loans and other requests please contact the curator:

Dr. Reinhard Berndt
Plant Ecological Genetics
ETH Zürich CHN D-37
Universitätstrasse 16
CH-8092 Zürich

Phone +41 44 6326113