Curator: Jennifer Thorsch
History
Cornelius H. Muller was one of the original faculty members at UCSB. He founded the Herbarium in 1945 with his personal collection of botanical specimens, which are still being used for teaching and research today.
C.H. Muller was an internationally renowned plant ecologist who was widely recognized as a world authority on the ecology of oaks. His career spanned much of the history of plant ecology in the United States. His collection, species descriptions, and research made him the leading authority on the genus Quercus. He also named a number of new species, largely oaks.
Collection Overview
Muller collected over 15,000 oak samples from western North America during his lifetime. He assembled two primary sets of specimens–one is in CCBER's Herbarium and the other set is at the L.H. Bailey Hortorium Herbarium at Cornell University. We also have over 90 sheets of his type specimens.
In addition to actual type material, Muller was thorough about re-collecting type localities, so many of his specimens are "typotypes." He also received material for determination from prominent collectors from 1940-1970. Thus, the Muller Oak Collection is an important resource for researchers interested in the systematics of southwestern oaks.