THE HERBARIUM PROJECT:

A herbarium is a collection of dried, pressed, mounted and identified specimens, carefully arranged in a particular sequence. Most colleges and universities maintain herbaria, often with several hundred thousand specimens. The largest herbaria in the United States are at museums or botanical gardens such as the U.S. National Herbarium at the Smithsonian Institution (with over 4 million specimens) and the New York Botanical Garden (over 4.5 million specimens). By comparison, your herbarium will be quite small. You will construct a herbarium including at least one representative species from five of the twelve families in Table 1. Details are explained in the "Procedure".

1. Identify trees based on observation of leaf, fruit, and silhouette.
2. Collect specimens and construct a herbarium.
3. Research the natural history of your collected specimens.
4. Construct a dichotomous key to identify specimens in your collection.

Materials:

Field guides and hand lenses

Dichotomous key exercises

Display herbarium sheets

Field press

1. In the field, work in pairs to identify representative species from each of the families listed in Table 1. For example, if you identify a tree as Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), you have obtained a representative of the Pine family.

2. Collect a leaf sample and make a pressing for your herbarium using your 'field press'. Do not remove leaves from any tree on campus. You may, however, use the campus trees for practice identification, and you may collect leaves that have fallen onto the ground. Other collection sites, such as parks, will by recommended by your instructor. You will need something for cutting.  Large plastic bags, that can be closed, are handy for carrying or storing specimens and then they can be pressed.   Flowers and fruits can also be collected.

* The Plant Press:  A plant press is made of "felt" blotting paper, corrugated cardboards, end boards, and tightening ropes or straps.  The "pressing unit" itself consists of corrugated cardboard sandwiched between two blotters.  A single, folded sheet of newspaper containing the specimen to be pressed is carefully placed within the blotter paper, and another unit is added.  Your plant press will consist of five "pressing units."

                    Useful hints:

                     Hint #1:  Collect your specimens in duplicate.  Press one specimen for your
                     herbarium and use the second for dissection to key out and identify your specimen. 
                     Refrigeration keeps plants fresh for days if stored in air-tight bags.

                    Hint #2:  Your 'plant press' should be placed in front of a fan to speed dry, caused by
                     air moving through the corrugates of the press. You can also place your press in a
                    heated area. Generally, the quicker a plant is dried; more color will be preserved.

3. Construct a herbarium, a bound volume of your collection that explains the taxonomy, botanical features, and natural history of each specimen. For each mounted specimen, provide a written entry on 8 ½" x 11" paper with the following information:

• common name, genus/species names, family name
• tree silhouette sketch
• description of leaves and fruit
• information about the tree’s natural history (keep brief)
• specific location of the specimen

See Figure 4 for a model written entry. Remember to include one representative species from five of the twelve families listed in Table 1.

4. Finally, include a dichotomous key to your collection to assist others in identifying all of your specimens. Use uniform descriptors, and be quantitative and precise.

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