The USF Herbarium was established as a research and teaching collection in 1958 by George R. Cooley, two years after the founding of the University of South Florida. The USF Herbarium is the second largest collection in Florida, the seventh largest in the southeastern United States, and ranks in the upper third of the world's herbaria in size. The herbarium contains approximately 280,000 specimens, consisting of about 260,000 specimens of vascular plants, 14,000 algae, 2,800 bryophytes, 1,300 lichens, and 300 macrofungi. The collection contains approximately 400 type specimens. The herbarium is richest in specimens from Florida (~40%), with additional holdings from North America north of Mexico (~35%), Latin America and the West Indies (~15%), and the Eastern Hemisphere (~10%). Specific groups well represented in the herbarium include Acanthaceae, Apocynaceae, Begoniaceae, Bromeliaceae, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae, and pteridophytes (ferns).