Ownbey Herbarium receives $1 million bequest

One of Washington State University's oldest collections has a new funding source to go along with its new campus location. The Marion Ownbey Herbarium recently received a bequest of $1 million to create the Heebner Endowed Sustaining Directorship from Charles (PhD Plant Pathology, '70) and Beverly Heebner. The establishment of the endowed directorship will provide stable, long-term funding to support staffing and programmatic expenditures at the herbarium, ensuring the collection remains a hub of scientific discovery, education, and conservation.

"The herbarium is basically a natural history museum for plants, storing a record of plant diversity through time and space," said Eric Roalson, professor of plant systematics and director of the Ownbey Herbarium. "Many researchers review or sample material from the herbarium for their work, whether it's to look at other physical characteristics or sequence DNA of a specific plant."

Both undergraduate and graduate students perform research activities as part of the Herbarium's academic mission. Undergraduate classes routinely visit for lectures on plant growth and to observe biological structures in a variety of flora. Additionally, undergraduate students can earn research credits while assisting with cataloging, databasing, and digitizing the collection, an effort that commenced three years ago.

While graduate students in the plant sciences programs have used the Herbarium for their research for years, other disciplines are discovering the potential uses of the repository.

"We've had a number of anthropology researchers who are trying to identify biological residues in pottery, and so they've looked into particular plant species used by Indigenous peoples to match starch granules found in those artifacts," said Roalson.

The Ownbey Herbarium is a unique reserve of important plant materials from around the region and beyond. Luckily, two benefactors, Charles and Beverly Heebner, recognized the importance of long-term financial support for the repository and acted decisively to ensure that the collection inspires future generations to discover and study the plants of the Pacific Northwest.

Growing up in Connecticut, both Charles and Beverly discovered a love for nature and plant life while exploring the woods around their homes. They earned degrees in zoology and botany and relocated to Pullman. Charles earned his PhD in Plant Physiology in 1970 from WSU, and Beverly worked for the Plant Pathology department. They've now chosen to give back to WSU through their financial bequest to the herbarium.

The Heebner Endowed Sustaining Directorship will support the areas of greatest need within the herbarium operations, including programmatic initiatives, faculty research support, staffing and salaries, or other uses which enhance the Ownbey Herbarium's stature as a premier resource for research and education at WSU.

This repository is a resource that the university and the state has been investing in for over 130 years. We very much view this as a resource that we manage as part of our land-grant mission for the community, the state, and the broader botanical community.

"This repository is a resource that the university and the state has been investing in for over 130 years," said Roalson, the herbarium director. "We very much view this as a resource that we manage as part of our land-grant mission for the community, the state, and the broader botanical community."

Founded in 1893, the Ownbey Herbarium holds over 413,000 plant and lichen specimens from around North America and the world. The majority of the collection is comprised of plants from the Pacific Northwest, the Northern Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and California. This 133-year-oldpreserved collection is one of the few existing herbaria in the Pacific Northwest. Named after Marion Ownbey, longtime director of the herbarium, the botanical repository features compactor storage, dedicated imaging facilities and research spaces for undergraduate and graduate students. Visitors can learn more about the Ownbey Herbarium as well as its hours and operations on the herbarium website.