The Fungarium is designated a Nationally Significant Collection by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

[2] The accessioning of collections that led to the establishment of the New Zealand Fungarium (PDD): Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa began with the appointment of G.H.

Cunningham and the collection were transferred to the Department of Science and Industrial Research's Plant Diseases Division in 1936.

Fungal specimens from the herbarium of the Plant Health and Diagnostic Station, Levin (LEV) have been incorporated into PDD.

[5][7] The study of the New Zealand native mushrooms and other larger fungi was pioneered by Greta Stevenson, Marie Taylor, and Barbara Segedin from the late 1940s until the 1990s.