Herbarium specimen are the hallmarks of any herbal museum. Collections of preserved plants can be found at all natural history museums with specimen stretching to the early periods of the development of plant classification.

The self proclaimed naturalist Hans Sloane was responsible for amassing a Caribbean collection of plants, many from Jamaica and Barbados, which now resides in the Natural Museum of History in the UK. It is amazing to see species that can still be found growing in rural landscapes on the islands, preserved in his collection from the period of the 1600s. In the case of Barbados that lost around 90% of its virgin plant cover due to the establishment of sugarcane plantations, such a collection would be invaluable for biocultural study. It is known that plant samples were, at the time, collected by the enslaved peoples of African descent on the islands and also the native islanders.

The Herbarium collection within our museum captures botanical treasures, in the plant specimen, and also the stories of these plants and Caribbean peoples.