The herbarium of the Botanische Staatssammlung München (herbarium acronym: M) comprises about 3.2 million dried specimens of plants and fungi and is systematically arranged. Associated are collections of pickled flowers , microscope slide collections, illustrations of plants and fungi, and dried fruits and seeds. The collections are worldwide in scope, but with particular strengths in the flora of Bavaria and the Alps, the vascular plants of Brazil, Chile, Middle Asia and parts of Africa, as well as in lichens and fungi. The herbarium grows at an average rate of 16,000 specimens a year and is estimated to house about 25% of the known species of the world.