Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Blogs by Mason Heberling

Mason Heberling is the assistant curator in the Section of Botany and co-chair of collections at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Heberling is a plant ecologist and botanist whose research explores plant functional strategies in deciduous forest understories, especially in the context
of environmental change. Much of his current research focuses on the ecology
and evolution of non-native, invasive plants in the eastern United States, the ecophysiological strategies of the herbaceous layer in deciduous forests, and the impacts of climate change on the timing of leafing out and flowering in temperate deciduous forests.

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Collected on this Day in 1917

ground pine specimens mounted in a display

Collected on February 3, 1917, this specimen was found by W. Millward in Butler County near the former Nixon Station on the Butler Trolley Short Line. This species, known as ground pine, belongs to an important group of plants that consists of the oldest living group of vascular plants called fern allies. This plant does not produce flowers or seeds.

Botanists at Carnegie Museum of Natural History share pieces of the herbarium’s historical hidden collection on the dates they were discovered or collected. Check back for more!

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Collected on this day in 1907

specimen Chromolaena odorata
On January 20, this specimen was found in Montserrat, in the Caribbean, by John A. Shafer, who became the museum’s first curator of the herbarium  in 1897.  Known as “devil weed,” Chromolaena odorata is in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to the Caribbean, Mexico, and subtropical United States, and it has become a problematic invader in tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.

Botanists at Carnegie Museum of Natural History share pieces of the herbarium’s historical hidden collection on the dates they were discovered or collected. Check back for more!

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Collected on this Day in 1935

eastern wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus)

Collection tag with collection location of Limestone Hill, near Connellsville, PA
This eastern wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus) specimen was collected near Connellsville, Pennsylvania on January 12, 1935 by John Franklin Lewis.

Eastern wahoo is native to midwestern states and parts of Pennsylvania. This specimen is part of Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s hidden botany collection.

Botanists at Carnegie Museum of Natural History share pieces of the herbarium’s historical hidden collection on the dates they were discovered or collected. Check back for more!