Making a Herbarium Specimen / Voucher

• Out in the field collecting

Out in the field, collecting plant material to press.

Doing the initial pressing, in the field

Some collected material, showing labeling

Collector on expedition, writing notes about their plant

Data that should be collected with the plant

• Locality - including the country

• Habitat

• Altitude

• Field identification

• Collector’s name

• Date of collection

• Plant description

Processing specimens

When collecting plants in the field you need to press and dry them straight away to keep them in good condition

Checking the specimens before mounting them onto a herbarium sheet

Layout of a herbarium specimen

• Label in bottom right hand corner, with other labels and capsule above.• Plant to left of label. If the specimen is large you can attach the label on the right hand side to flap over the specimen• Turn specimen to fit on page

Leaves

Both sides of the leaf should be shown

Flowers

• Show the front and back of flowers if possible• Try to open mature flowers out so that the inside is clearly visible• If there is plenty of material, keep some in an envelope

Herbarium specimens

A Darwin original herbarium specimen A present day herbarium specimen

A specimen collected by Darwin

Kew’s Herbarium where over 7 million pressed plants are kept