Sweetgrass (Savastana odorata (L.) Scribn. [now recognized as Hierochloe odorata (L.) P. Beauv.]) Collected by Frederick Funston on Khantaak Island, Alaska, June 20, 1892, unknown maker from the United States

An herbarium is a systematically arranged collection of preserved plants. The R. L. McGregor Herbarium houses approximately 400,000 specimens collected over the past 150 years. These include dried plant specimens (exsiccatae), seeds, and boxed and fluid-preserved vascular plant specimens. The herbarium also houses the largest single collection of plants from the grassland biome of central North America, as well as the largest collections of lichens and vascular plants from Kansas.

Sweetgrass permeates many aspects of Native American life, from basket weaving to ceremonial practices. For example, it is one of the four sacred medicines of the Chippewa peoples, along with tobacco, sage, and cedar.