Mycology and lichenology at the Rijksherbarium

Soon after the foundation of the Rijksherbarium in 1829 King Willem I of the Netherlands presented the herbarium of C. H. Persoon to this institute. The fungi in this famous herbarium, along with some other collections, among which the tropical fungi collected by F. W. Junghuhn and H. Zollinger, formed the basis for the mycological herbarium. But in the early period of the Rijksherbarium, owing to a shortage of funds and the absence of a curator for the cryptogams, the collections of fungi and lichens were badly neglected and remained in disorder for a long time. It was the third director of the Rijksherbarium, W. F. R. Suringar (director from 1871 to 1898) who became aware of the omissions in the collections of cryptogams and who took measures to fill the gaps. During his period several series of cryptogamic exsiccata were bought. He also acquired the cryptogamic collections of J. K. Hasskarl and L. H. Buse as well as the well-known lichen herbarium of G. W. Körber. But there still was no one to look after these collections.