herbaria: what are they? carefully organized collections of preserved, documented plant specimens...
TRANSCRIPT
Herbaria: what are they?
Carefully organized collections of preserved, documented plant specimens
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Associated resources
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People to help answer your questions
The Intermountain Herbarium
Is a major regional herbarium with
> 234,000 specimens, of which more than 63,000 have been databased
A library of more than 5,000 catalogued items
A slide collection of more than 2000 slides
Helpful staff members
Herbarium Specimens
Most of the Intermountain Herbarium’s specimens are vascular plants, but the fungal and bryophyte collections are becoming more active.
and the label
The label is critical. The identity of the specimen can be checked; the label cannot be.
The library ….
The herbarium’s reference library has more than 5000 items.
They are listed in the main library catalog.
Resources for preparing specimens
The Intermountain Herbarium will loan plant presses and allow you to use its plant dryer and label making program.
Some tools the herbarium does not provide …
Field notebook
Clippers and digger
Tags
Pencil(s)
Bags
GPS, altimeter
Field press
Identifying plants …
The herbarium provides space, microscopes, and reference works for use in identifying plants (Floras are on shelves adjacent to this space).
Do not know how to identify plants?
Take a class Ask the herbarium staff to give you
some pointers – and then just do it (you do need to be prepared to learn about plants)
Pay us ($50 per hour for good specimens, $75 per hour for poor specimens).