Claude E Phillips
Herbarium
What is a
herbarium?
A herbarium is a
collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens
may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be
in a dried form, mounted on a sheet. Other ways of
preserving plants are through using alcohol or some other
preservative. Delaware State University is home to the
87th
largest
herbarium in the U.S. out of approximately 525 and the
largest herbarium at an HBCU!
How do you preserve
a plant?
To preserve their form and color, plants collected in the
field are spread flat on sheets of newsprint and dried,
usually in a plant press. The specimens, which are then
mounted on sheets of stiff white paper, are labeled with
all pertinent data, such as collector, date, location,
color of the flowers and/or foliage, altitude, and special
habitat conditions.
Detailed
information is absolutely required for future researchers!
Why do we have
herbaria?
Herbaria are essential for the study of plant taxonomy,
plant geography, and many other related fields. Herbaria
also help to identify weeds, poisonous plants, contaminants
in food and medicine, and other plants or plant parts
important to the U.S. economy. Thus, it is important to
include as much of the plant as possible (e.g., flowers,
stems, leaves, fruit) to prepare a proper herbarium
specimen.
Click on the link below to see a guide on perserving plant
specimens.
herbarium.pdf