The University of Massachusetts Herbarium, Amherst, is a regional resource with approximately 224,000 mounted vascular plants, algae and bryophtyes as well as a fruit and seed collection. The collection is world wide in scope, but the focus is on Western Massachusetts and New England. It includes three herbaria; the Amherst College Herbarium (AC), started in 1829 by Professor Edward Hitchcock and one of the oldest herbaria in the country, the Massachusetts State Herbarium (MASS) founded in 1867 by W. S. Clark, the third president of the University, and the recently acquired Phippen-LaCroix Herbarium (TUFT).