Question

What do you understand by herbarium? Explain the various steps involved in preparing a herbarium specimen.

Answer 1

A herbarium is a collection of pressed, dried and labelled plant specimens and data associated with it which is used for scientific study. The specimens are arranged by a classification scheme. These are used for plant identification. It has details of plant locations, habitat, abundance and flowering and fruiting periods.

• The first step in preparing a herbarium specimen is a field visit and collection of specimen.
• The specimen is then spread on a blotting sheet and is placed in the press for drying.
• The dry specimen is then mounted on the herbarium sheet.
• The specimen is preserved using 2% mercuric chloride fungicide.
• After proper labelling of it, it is finally stored.