The National Herbarium of Ireland in Dublin contains a collection of more than half a million dried and documented plant specimens from Ireland and the rest of the world. The collections and associated literature and documentation act as a central repository of information relating to the distribution and taxonomy of the flora of Ireland. The economic botany collection contains some 20,000 samples of plant products, including fruits, seeds, wood, fibres, plant extracts, and artefacts. The herbarium serves as a reference centre, a documentation facility, a data storehouse and a research institution for the study of Irish and international botany. Associated with the herbarium is the library, with extensive archives relating to the history of horticulture in Ireland, and the flora of Ireland.