Question

What is a herbarium?

Answer 1

Herbarium:

1. The herbarium is a type of biological library in which biological live samples are stored as pressed, annotated, or dried plant specimens on a sheet of paper called a herbarium sheet.
2. A herbarium provides an organized primary data source of labeled and preserved plant specimens arranged to provide easy and efficient access to researchers, students, teachers, botanists, and historians.
3. Herbaria can have vascular plants part like tubers, large flowers, cones, fruits, bulbs, etc.
4. Algae, lichens, fungi, and bryophytes can also be stored in herbaria after drying and decontamination.
5. Herbaria contain specimens that were collected over many years from a broad range of geographic areas.
6. Labels on herbarium specimens indicate the scientific name, name of the collector, location, and general data of a particular sample.

Importance of herbarium.

1. Specimens of a single species are collected from different geographical areas to study evolutionary and ecological similarities.
2. Specimens mounted in herbarium also provide resources for research on genome structure, DNA level variation, and expression of various genes.
3. Herbarium is also essential for proper naming of identification of new spices and naming of unknown plants.
4. Herbaria are specially used for historical plants to store information that would otherwise be lost with time.