Botanical Techniques

BASIC BOTANICAL TECHNIQUES

FOCUSES ON
1) Collection and preservation of
plant materials
2) Documentation of plant materials
Looking for plants
Where and when to look for plants
The most important part of every
collected specimen is the flower
Almost all natural environments
are suitable for searching for
plants for the herbarium
Even in the cities it is possible to
look for plants, just do not take
specimens from the parks and
gardens!
Tools
Trowel
Cutters
Plastic bags
Knife
Ropes
Camera!
Etc.
Recording Data
locality: be precise, if possible include the
longitude and latitude and also a sketch
map if useful

habitat and ecology: terrain
characteristics, vegetation type,
associations with other plants

plant habit: describe the overall size and
shape of the plant (tree, bush, epiphyte etc.)

stems and trunks: height and
diameter; color, texture, thickness
and hardness; the presence of
thorns and spines

leaves: deciduous or evergreen;
color, texture and overall aspect;
orientation; exudate or glands


Recording data
inflorescence and flowers: note of everything that
could be undetected in prepared specimens;
color;

monoecious or dioecious; different behaviour
(open / closed) during the day; exudate or
glands; pollinators

fruits and seeds: size, shape, color, texture;
smell

underground organs: take some samples or
describe them (size and shape, tap root,
tubers, bulb etc.)

scent: record any particular scent, especially
of cut parts and flowers
sap or latex: note the color, smell, consistency
etc.

name: record the locally used name(s)
uses: record the uses, getting confirmation

Processing plants
Drying specimens
Special treatments
Preparation for herbarium sheets:
mounting and arrangements
Labeling

Mounting
Labeling

A herbarium label should contain the
following:
Institution with which the collector is affiliated
Genus, species, author names
Family name
Date of determination of name
Locality
Vegetation and habitat
Plant description
Collector's name
Collecting date

Example
The New York Botanical Garden
Plants of Bolivia

Poulsenia armata (Miq.) Standl.
Moraceae
det. M. Nee, 1991
Depto. Sta. Cruz, Prov. Ichilo, Parque Nacional Amboro, Rio
Saguayo near mouth of Quebrada Yapohe. Secondary
tropcal evergreen forest enar camp around abandoned slash
and burn plot.
Young tree, 2 m. tall; sap milky
Coll: M. Nee 40910
June 11, 1991
The Herbarium
I. A Plant Morgue
An herbarium is a collection of
pressed, dried, and labeled plants
(and may also include other types of
collections including wood or seeds).

Perhaps a less morbid analogy is
that an herbarium is a reference
library of plants.
It is generally agreed that Luca Ghini (1490-
1556), Professor of Botany at the University of
Bologna, prepared the first herbarium
specimens as we recognize them today. His
students, Cibo, Turner, Aldrovandi and
Cesalpino also made herbaria, some of which
still exist
Another contender for the oldest herbarium
specimen is an olive branch removed from King
Tuts tomb
How valuable are
herbaria?
Monetary Value.
Herbarium specimens can be
considered priceless (since they are
irreplaceable) or nearly worthless
Whatever the figure, none take into
account the intrinsic scientific value
of the specimen.

Scientific Value.
The information content of a herbarium is
tremendous. Herbarium specimens document:
(a) the appearance of a plant in a particular
locality at a particular time of year; (b) the
range of variation within a species; (c) the
nature of evolutionary processes; and (d) when
a particular plant flowers or fruits (phenology).
They also (e) provide material for study away
from the field or at another season.
And, they serve as: (f) vouchers, or voucher
specimens, that document the identity of plants
used in taxonomic, chemical (i.e., DNA), or
cytological (i.e., chromosome counts), or other
studies, and as (g) type specimens -
specimens upon which names are based.
Finally, (h) herbarium specimens may have a
wealth of information about the medicinal or
food or utility of the plant

Herbaria around the world
Large herbaria include (# specimens in
parentheses):
Museum of Natural History, Paris (8.8 million);
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (7 million);
Komarov Botanical Institute, Leningrad (5+
million);
NY Botanical Garden (5.3 million);
Harvard (combined herbaria, 4.8 million);
US National Herbarium (4.4 million), Smithsonian
(4.1 million);
Field Museum of Chicago (2.4 million) (data from
Index Herbariorum).
Identification and labeling
Identification
Identification is defined as
associating an unknown entity with
that is already known; or at least
recognize that the unknown doesn't
have a known counterpart (= new
species).
How?
Asking an expert
Hunting-and-Pecking (specimen
comparison)
Using a taxonomic key