About

Our primary goals include the development of the collection and preservation of herbarium specimens and associated data according to international standards, in turn promoting the conservation of the province’s natural plant resources. We also support and promote USASK faculty and graduate students research and teaching activities in traditional and molecular systematics, crop science, as well as community service within and outside the province. Our collection includes unique, rare, and threatened plant species of Saskatchewan. Our type collection includes 48 type specimens, including two type specimens of lichens and 46 type specimens of vascular plants. The herbarium also has an extensive library of books and resources focused a number of topics including, plant taxonomy, flora of Canada, medicinal and edible plants, economic botany, history, and ecology. Books are available for use at the herbarium and for short term loan to users.

The official acronym for the W. P. Fraser Herbarium is "SASK" [as published in Index Herbariorum Part 1. The Herbaria of the World. IAPT, New York Botanical Garden, New York]. Index Herbariorum.

The collection includes flora from:

  • the Province of Saskatchewan (including an extensive database of rare plant records)
  • the remaining Canadian Provinces and Territories
  • United States of America, including Alaska
  • The rest of the world

 

History of the herbarium

W.P. Fraser
  Dr. William P. Fraser
  August Breitung
  August Breitung


1925 - Dr. William P. Fraser became the first curator of the W.P. Fraser Herbarium and a Professor of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan. He maintained his accumulated collections in the Biology Department until his death in 1943, six years beyond his retirement.

1954 - The Fraser collections were rescued from a decade-long hiatus of essential neglect by Dr. Robert T. Coupland. The Fraser collection was transferred to the Department of Plant Ecology in the College of Agriculture. Dr. Coupland curated his own collections and the Fraser collection until 1961.The Fraser collections and Dr. Coupland's plant ecology collections became fully merged during the 1960's and were officially recognized as "The W. P. Fraser Herbarium of Vascular Plants". In 1961, Dr. George W. Argus became curator, and in 1969 Dr. Vernon L. Harms took over the position. In July, 2000, Dr. Hugo Cota-Sanchez began as the curator of the W.P. Fraser Herbarium until 2024. Currently Dr. Eric Lamb of the Plant Science Department is the curator.
 

The Department of Plant Sciences of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources provides basic funding for equipment and supplies and staff salaries. An important supplemental source of income is provided by the estate of pioneer Saskatchewan botanist, August Breitung, to support the herbarium and plant taxonomy at the University of Saskatchewan.


Do you want to know more about the history of the W.P. Fraser Herbarium (SASK)? Read "The W.P. Fraser Herbarium (SASK) of the University of Saskatchewan: Past, present and future" (in Blue Jay 67:97-104). This article gives a detailed look at the history of our herbarium.