Plant Collecting: How-To

Herbarium specimens will last hundreds of years if properly cared for. We are committed to providing a secure and easily accessible collection for scientific research.

There is an art to the mounting of plant specimens to their archival quality cardstock backing. BRIT’s volunteers and staff participate in this activity daily.

Plant identification requires you have as much of the plant as possible, and in some occassions this cannot be accomplished if you are dealing with a sterile specimen.

To facilitate specimen storage and use, collected plants must be pressed to a 2-dimensional status and dried to remove any moisture that would encourage fungal growth.

A specimen is scientifically useful if it is accompanied by collection notes regarding where, when and under what ciscumstances a plant was collected.

Plant collections ought to be made in such a manner as to increase their longevity as preserved herbarium specimens, as well as optimize their usefulness for future research.Plant collections ought to be made in such a manner as to increase their longevity as preserved herbarium specimens, as well as optimize their usefulness for future research.