The Botany Department manages the largest herbarium in the English-speaking Caribbean. The herbarium has a collection of over 130,000 specimens of flowering plants, algae, fungi, lichens, mosses and ferns which are mainly from Jamaica, the West Indies and continental areas bordering the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. The herbarium also houses collections of wood samples, seeds and fruits which are primarily Jamaican specimens. The department’s main objective is to preserve and manage the national collection, conduct research on Jamaican flora and disseminate the results to the general public.