This reference collection consists of over 6,500 cleared, stained and mounted extant leaves. While at the Smithsonian Institution Curator Leo Hickey began this collection in 1967 as part of his research on the systematic distribution of the leaf characters of the flowering plants in relation to the evolution of a group.

This collection was transferred with Hickey when he came to the Yale Peabody Museum as Director in 1982. The National Cleared Leaf Collection remains an integral part of research not only for Hickey and his students, but also for national and international scientists.

The Yale Peabody Museum’s collections are available to legitimate researchers for scholarly use. Loans are issued to responsible individuals at established institutions. Loans and access to the collection can be arranged through the Collections Manager.

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