- Herbaria and Herbarium Specimens
History of Herbaria
Collection Use Protocols and Specimen Handling Guidelines - Plant Specimen Collecting and Preparation: plant collecting (incl. legal considerations), identification, label preparation, sorting, pest control and fumigation.
Preparation of Plant Specimens for Deposit as Herbarium Vouchers
Florida Plant Collecting: Regulations and Permitting
Label-making programs (e.g. Symbiota, mail merge, PLabel)
Best Practices for Collecting Geographic Data in the Field
Collecting techniques for specialty groups such as succulents, palms, bulky specimens, bryophytes, lichens, etc.
Plant Specimen Collecting and Pressing Bibliography - Plant Mounting and Specimen Preparation.
Plant Mounting Guide
Making Fragment Packets - Collection Acquisitions and Set Preparation.
- Accessioning and filing.
- Ancillary Collections: spirit, wood, seed, economic botany, dna, seed bank.
- Upkeep and organization of the collection: organization of families, genera, species; folder making; specimen repair, updating nomenclature, pest control and fumigation.
- Library and Special Collections / Publications Exchange: Ordering and organization, acquisitions and cataloging; illustrations, photographs.
Computers, Databases, and the Web: Darwin core, local database (e.g. Specify), global database (e.g. GBIF) - Exchanges and Gifts: Establishment of exchange program.
Incoming: Count, evaluate, acknowledge, record tally.
Outgoing: Sort, check, count, record tally, pack, ship.
Loans outgoing: evaluate loan request, choose specimens to be sent (leave some behind for id use), repair, digitize, invoice or list of specimens, ship.
Await receipt of acknowledgement, keep up with progress of overdue loans, unpack and check returned specimens.
Loans incoming: request (who, purpose, duration), count and acknowledge receipt, extensions & due date.
Annotate, count, and return.
Administrative Structures, Relationships and Activities, Ordering Supplies and Equipment.
Equipment items: Bookcases, File cases, Cameras & Lights, Herbarium cases, Plant drier, Computers, Microscopes, Desks
Supply items: Boxes, Mounting paper, Office supplies, Genus & species covers, Glue, Printing
Other expenses to consider: Telephone, Xeroxing, Utilities, Software, Fieldwork - Service and Extension Activities.
Outreach, plant IDs, etc.
REFERENCE LIST (bolded items are major texts):
Bridson, Diane and Leonard Forman, editors. 1998. The herbarium handbook. 3rd ed. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Great Britain. xii, 334 p.
Croat, Thomas B. 1978. Survey of Herbarium Problems. Taxon 27(2/3): 203-218.
Davies, N.M.J., C. Drinkell, & T.M.A. Utteridge. 2023. The Herbarium Handbook. Kew Publishing, 256 pp.
DeWolf, Gordon P., Jr. 1968. Notes on Making an Herbarium. Arnoldia 28: 69-111.
Flannery, M.C. 2023. In the Herbarium. The Hidden World of Collecting and Preserving Plants. Yale University Press, 336 pp.
Fosberg, F. Raymond and Marie-Helene Sachet. 1965. Manual for Tropical Herbaria. Regnum Vegetabile 39. IAPT, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Lawrence, George H. M. 1958. Field and Herbarium Techniques. Chapter XI (pp. 234-262) in: Taxonomy of Vascular Plants. The MacMillan Co., New York, NY. Leenhouts, P. W. 1968. A Guide to the Practice of Herbarium Taxonomy. Regnum Vegetabile 58. IAPT, Utrecht, Netherlands. 60 pp.
Lipsen, L.P.J. 2023. Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium. Royal BC Museum. 96 pp.
Metsger, Deborah A. and Sheila C. Byers, eds. 1999. Managing the modern herbarium : an inter-disciplinary approach. Contribution … from the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology of the Royal Ontario Museum, no. 53. Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, Washington, DC, as a joint project with The Royal Ontario Museum, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. xxii, 384 p.
Mori, Scott A., Amy Berkov, Carol A. Gracie and Edmund F. Hecklau. 2011. Tropical plant collecting : from the field to the internet. My career as a tropical botanist. TECC Editora, Florianpolis, Brazil. xvii, 332 p.
Nevling, Lorin I., Jr. 1973. Report of the Committee for Recommendations in Desirable Procedures in Herbarium Practice and Ethics. II. Brittonia 25(3): 307-310.
Rabeler, R. K., Svoboda, H. T., Thiers, B., Prather, L. A., Macklin, J. A., Lagomarsino, L. P., … & Ferguson, C. J. 2019. Herbarium practices and ethics, III. Systematic Botany 44: 7-13.
Shetler, S. G. 1969. The Herbarium: Past, Present, and Future. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 82: 687-758.
Thiers, B. 2020. Herbarium: the Quest to Preserve and Classify the World’s Plants. New York Botanical Garden. 304 pp.
Zycherman, Lynda A., editor, and John Richard Schrock, assistant editor. 1988. A guide to museum pest control. Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and Association of Systematic Collections, Washington, DC.
Also see: UF Herbarium library, search for subject “Herbarium Techniques”