Luomus is responsible by law for preserving, acquiring and displaying national natural history collections and carrying out associated research and teaching. The collections comprise some 13 million animal, plant, fungal, rock and fossil specimens.
The collections are used especially for taxonomic, systematic and biogeographical research and form the basis for identification literature. In addition, they are used for species monitoring, enabling historical biodiversity research. The scientific collections are closed to the public.
Our sizeable zoological collections comprise almost 10 million specimens and some 35,000 valuable type specimens.
Luomus holds botanical and mycological collections containing about 3,5 million plant and fungal specimens (including lichens) and over 50,000 valuable type specimens. Each year, Luomus accessions an average of 20,000 new specimens, including donations, research datasets and specimens exchanged with other herbaria and fungaria.
The Luomus botanic gardens in Kaisaniemi and Kumpula are home to plants from almost all over the world. In total, the collections include 7,050 plants of different origin and 4,230 taxa (species, races or cultivars) of trees, shrubs and perennials as well as biennials and some annuals. The gardens serve the needs of research, teaching and studying as well as the environmental education of the public. In addition, the gardens exchange seeds with international collaboration partners for research purposes and coordinate Finnish botanic garden activities. Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden is home to the Finnish seedbank of threatened wild plants.
All of the garden activities are based on the Luomus herbarium, or a collection of plants of known origin documented so as to be of maximum value for research, teaching and environmental education.
The national geological collections contain about 50,000 mineral and rock specimens, 600 meteorites and 44,000 fossil, bone and soil samples and specimens. Acquired from the 18th century onwards, the resources include specimens such as Finnish gemstones and meteorites, Europe’s oldest rock types, the Antarctica collection, the mammoth collection and fossils from the Åland Islands.
Items included in the Luomus genomic resources collections are available on loan for university research and include DNA extracts and tissue samples from animals, plants and fungi.