The Ted R. Bradley Herbarium

Collections-Based Research at Mason and Beyond

History

The collection was begun in 1967 by its first curator in the Department of Biology, Professor Ted Bradley. Dr. Bradley added thousands of collections over the course of his career and was instrumental in developing the Atlas of the Virginia Flora. By the time he retired in 2003, he had expanded the collection to over 60,000 specimens of vascular plants, non-vascular plants and lichens. Many of his specimens were used to create the Flora of Virginia (read more at http://floraofvirginia.org). Mason Professor James Lawrey has contributed thousands of lichen and lichenicolous specimens. Since 2005, Department of Biology Professor Dr. Andrea Weeks has curated the collection and incorporated it into her research program, as well.

Description of the Research Collection

The facility is located on the ground floor of Exploratory Hall and comprises separate rooms for specimen preparation and archival storage of the research collection. The majority of specimens (ca. 67%) are from Virginia, particularly Northern Virginia, and are separated in beige folders from other specimens in the cabinets. The remaining ca. 33% mainly derive from the southeastern US and are filed in yellow folders. International specimens, such as those from Canada, Puerto Rico, Andros Island (Bahamas), and South America, are further segregated into orange folders. The vast majority of these specimens are not duplicated elsewhere and are therefore irreplaceable documents of Virginia’s plant biodiversity heritage. The entire collection is arranged by family, alphabetically by genus and species, followed by geographical segregation at the species and sub-species level. The herbarium also maintains identification manuals, dissecting microscopes and field collecting equipment for use by Mason students and researchers.

World-wide Digital Access to the Research Collection

With support from the National Science Foundation (EF-1410086 “Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: The Key to the Cabinets: Building and sustaining a research database for a global biodiversity hotspot) and the Virginia Native Plant Society, all Virginian vascular plant herbarium specimens of the Ted R. Bradley herbarium have been digitized and are searchable at http://www.sernecportal.org. The lichen and lichenicolous fungi specimen data are distributed through Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria portal: https://lichenportal.org/cnalh/

Use by External Researchers 

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Recent external visitors to Mason’s collection include natural resource professionals from the Virginia Natural Heritage Program, NatureServe, US Geological Service, Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria. Botanists from outside Virginia also access the collections through loans of specimens to their institutions. Mason herbarium specimens have recently been used to support a range of non-Mason projects including a revised Flora of the Bahamas, a pollen flora of the Potomac River Basin, and phylogeographic study of Prunus serotina (Black Cherry). 

Theses and dissertations produced by Mason students since 2000 that have relied on the Ted. R. Bradley Herbarium

Masters’ theses

• McMurchie, Elizabeth. 2018. Vascular flora of Blue Ridge Environmental Center (Purcellville, Loudoun County).
• Oldham, Karoline. 2015. Taxonomic revision and phylogeographic study of American Cow-wheat (Melampyrum lineare; Orobanchaceae).
• North, Brittany. 2013. The response of the root and soil fungal communities to competition among Amphicarpaea bracteata, Onoclea sensibilis, and the invasive Microstegium vimineum in Northern Virginia.
• Smith, Matthew. 2011. Vascular flora of Crow’s Nest State Nature Preserve. Project-based.
• Alexander, Sara. 2010. A subspecific revision of North American saltmarsh mallow, Kosteletzkya pentacarpos (L.) Ledeb.
• Dee, Suzanne. 2010. Structural and functional development of vegetation in mitigation bank wetlands created in the piedmont region of Virginia.
• Baird, Kristen. 2009. The phylogenetics and historical biogeography of Leibnitzia Cass. (Asteraceae: Mutisieae): American species in an Asian genus.
• Williams, Lisa A. 2004. Floristic survey of the Eastern Goose Creek watershed, Loudon County, Virginia.
• Dodge, John E. 2000. A floristic survey of the Potomac River watershed in Westmoreland County, Virginia, from Bridges Creek to Currioman Bay.
• Lea, Christopher. 2000. Plant Communities of the Potomac Gorge and their relationship to fluvial factors.

Ph.D. dissertations

• Collins, Elizabeth. Ongoing. Revision and phylogeographic investigation of Bursera graveolens.
• Dal-Forno, Manuela. 2015. Systematics, phylogeny, and species taxonomy of the lichen genus Dictyonema.
• Gostel, Morgan. 2015. Origin and evolution of endemic Commiphora lineages of Madagascar.
• Hollowell. Thomas H. 2005. Plant community structure, fire disturbance, and recovery in mangrove swamps of the Waini Peninsula, Guyana.
• Strong, Mark T. 2004. An electron microscopy study of the outer pericarp surface of the achenes (fruits) of Rhynchospora (Cyperaceae) in the Guianas, South America, bearing on the delimitation of species and sections, and to clarify the taxonomy and distribution of species occurring in the Guianas.
• Kelloff, Carol Lynn. 2002. Plant diversity of Kaieteur National Park, Guyana: Using plant data as a tool in conservation and development.