The Herbarium of Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste is of relatively recent creation. The biological heritage of the HCIB Herbarium started in the 80s with samples collected in Sierra de La Laguna by Dr. José Luis León de la Luz as product of his botanical explorations in the area. Considering the growing recording of samples, their curatorial organization in the incipient collection led to an institutional collection.

During the years, the accumulation of botanized material by own collections and donations of North American collectors such as Annetta M. Carter and Reid Moran, and considering the need to create a space to support botanical investigation by CIB researchers, the herbarium project strengthened with the institutional recognition of the Center in 1990 and later with its registry in the Index Herbariorum of the New York Botanical Garden in 1992 under the acronym of HCIB.

Currently the HCIB Herbarium has a growing heritage that goes over 20,000 samples; the last ten years have been very important for valuable exchanges with the herbariums of California, promoted by Jon P. Rebman and of Arizona promoted by Thomas R. Van Devender and Richard S. Felger.

Herbarium users, from prestige botanists to elementary students in local schools, have contributed to comply with the main objective of all biological collections, which is to obtain and promote knowledge on regional biodiversity.

Dedicated to Annetta Mary Carter (1907-1991)

Since the 18th century, the Baja California peninsula has called the attention of North American botanists. Examples of prominent and enthusiastic explorers of the Baja California peninsula have been Towshendt Stith Brandegee, Marcus Eugene Jones, Ira Loren Wiggins, and Reid V. Moran, who because of their dedication and great effort (given the peculiar working conditions they were subjected to) are praiseworthy; Annetta was not the exception. She was Emeriti Professor of Botany in the University of California (Berkeley), and "soul and motor" of the UC Herbarium, one of the best represented and organized herbariums in the world.

Annetta was also a woman in love with the peninsula; her favorite area was undoubtedly the rugged Sierra de la Giganta, where she worked the last 25 active years of her life.

With no doubt, her encouragement was of great significance to shape this herbarium, which since 1992 was named after her as a discreet homage.