Pacific Southwest Research Station

The Critchfield Memorial Herbarium, named in memory of the late William Burke Critchfield for his "contributions to understanding genetic variation, hybridization, growth and development, biogeography, paleobotany, systematics, and taxonomy of forest trees", is located at the Institute of Forest Genetics in Placerville, California. The herbarium is renowned for the quality of its collections, focusing on the genus Pinus. It contains over 4,000 specimens, including samples of nearly all of the worlds pines- probably the most complete in the world. The Critchfield Herbarium was recently renovated using funds generously donated by the Eddy Fund.

The 1966 publication "A New Conifer Herbarium" by Critchfield describes the origin of the herbarium. Learn more about Bill Critchfield in this 1990 article in Fremontia, journal of the California Native Plant Society.