The Herbarium of the University of Turin was established in 1891, about 160 years after the foundation of the Botanical Garden of the University (1729), and is one of the most important Italian herbaria with about one million specimens. In addition to two phanerogamic collections, Herbarium Pedemontanum (TO-HP, about 300,000 specimens) and Herbarium Generale (TO-HG, about 450,000 specimens) the Herbarium possesses the Cryptogamic section (about 130,000 exsiccata) belonging to five different groups: Musci Algae, Fungi and Lichens.
These exsiccata document more than 250 years of botanical studies including those of the first floristic studies in Piedmont and Sardinia, carried out respectively by Carlo Allioni (1728–1804) and Giuseppe Giacinto Moris (1796-1869) (about 20,000 specimens).
The section of the Herbarium Pedemontanum includes specimens of Phanerogams and vascular Cryptogams whose collection stations are limited to Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta. Only the completion of an electronic filing, started a few years ago, will allow the identification of the data related to each specimen also through access keys other than the "name" assigned to each entity. A paper-based filing, created around the mid-twentieth century and periodically updated, however, makes it possible to verify the collection making it possible to "estimate" the taxonomic contents of the section. In the Herbarium Pedemontanum are present and labelled 113 families, 750 genera, 4,332 entities (afferent to different ranks: species, subspecies, varieties and forms) identified for the spontaneous flora of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta (Vignolo- Lutati, 1952). The Herbarium Pedemontanum was formed in about 250 years of exploration of the Piedmontese territory mostly by scholars of the university garden but also through purchases and gifts of valuable collections set up by private individuals who are passionate about floristic investigations.
The section of the General Herbarium includes specimens of Phanerogams and Vascular Cryptogams for which the collection stations indicated on the labels are not collected within the territories of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta.
It includes specimens dating from the mid-18th century to the present.
The sorting is based on the systematic index published by T. DURAND in 1888 (Index Generum Phanerogamorum) which allows access to the materials in the collection by means of a numerical code.
It includes specimens dating from the mid-18th century to the present and is the most complete existing documentation regarding the flora of these two regions.
The ordering is based on the systematic and numerical index published by T. DURAND in 1888 (Index Generum Phanerogamorum) which allows access to the corresponding "genus" and within this - by alphabetical sequence - to the "species" and, therefore , to the single exsiccatum.