Why make a collection?
Making a good plant collection is time-consuming, but a well-made plant collection is of lasting benefit. It represents information that was captured at one point in time and made available for all time. People still study specimens collected in the 1600s. This means that your specimens might still be studied 30-40 years from now by other PFHS students.

The other benefit to making a collection, and identifying the plants in it, is that doing so will teach you more about plant diversity and the characteristics of different plant families that than all the most brilliant lectures in my PowerPoint file folder. You will also learn the advantage of making good specimens and field notes.You can save yourself hours of work and learn much more by doing so properly. All the organizational and production skills that you learn and practice in this project are applicable to the real world and future occupations. Bear in mind that any good plant specimen kills at least part of a plant. Makesure you use collected specimens appropriately. Be a good steward of nature !

A good specimen has:

  • All the parts needed for accurate identification.This means stem, leaves and flower. Seed-bearing structures can be invaluable in identification as well.
  • Back-up information. For instance, did the branch come from a tree or shrub? How tall was the plant? What was the flower color in the field? (Flower color may change on drying). For a tall herbaceous plant, how large are the basal leaves? Are they arranged in the same way as the upper leaves?
  • Locality Information. Where was it collected, preferably with an address or street/road reference that may lead others to the same patch of plants.
  • Habitat information. There are two aspects to this, physical and biological. Biological includes what kind of plant community (open forest, opening in forest, closed forest, grassland, shrub-steppe, disturbed roadside) and is the one we are concerned with.
  • Collector Information. The name of the collector and the collection number for that specimen. The collection numbershould be associated with the order in which things were collected, even if they do not become included in your presented collection.

Collecting ethics

  1. Have a reason for killing or damaging the plant. The validity of a reason varies with the species and the location. Collect what you need for identification and specimen preparation only.
  2. Have permission to collect in the area concerned.
  3. Determine whether there are enough plants to justify your action. In general, follow the 1 in 20 rule. Weeds, particularly noxious weeds, can be collected without limit, but minimize the disruption you cause. "Replace your divots".
  4. Make a good specimen for your purpose. "Good" means with all parts needed for your purpose and appropriate data.

Good collecting

  • Make field notes. It is a good idea to make them before digging up the plant of interest, particularly if you are inclined to be impatient.
  • Tag your plants when you collect them. Info can go in the bag with the plant.
  • Press your plants while they are fresh
  • Lay them out as you want them to look
  • Make sure that both the top and the bottom surface of leaves are visible

Field notes.Write your field notes BEFORE starting to collect (I tend to be impatient, hence this advice).

  • Start with date. Even if you are collecting with others from the class, each of you must have your own field notes and specimens.
  • Then describe the location. Also, use the trip tick on your car (odometer to the educated). Try to note what it is at when you go by landmarks on a collecting trip.
  • Describe the ecological characteristics (habitat) of the area.
  • Then start collecting. Include a tag with the plants (really helps to be sure you know which is which when you are identifying them). Assign consecutive numbers to each plant that you collect and use those numbers in your field notebook. Add notes about an individual plant in your field notebook.
  • You may submit a copy of your field notes with your collection for extra credit. I shall be looking for completeness. DO NOT RECOPY YOUR FIELD NOTES. Field notes are notes taken in the field. Recopied field notes will earn you 0 (zero, zilch) points

Pressing the specimens. Well made specimens can be both valuable scientific resources and visually attractive. Make achieving both goals your aim, but recognize that some species will frustrate you. Some specimens will blacken soon after being collected, in others just the flower color changes, possibly from a vibrant red to a dull purple. Most species in our region make good specimens, but rule number 1 is that NO SPECIMEN CAN BE MADE TO LOOK BETTER AFTER IT IS HAS BEEN PRESSED. How do you make good specimens?

  • Press your plants while they are still fresh.
  • Clean off the mud or dirt you may have accidentally collected.
  • Lay the plant in the newsprint as you want it to look when dried. Take advantage of the space available, remembering that there will be information written in one corner of the mount. Show both sides of leaves and, if possible, expose the inner portions of a flower.
  • Select appropriate material if the plant is too large to fit in the press. For trees and shrubs, portion of a branch with leaves and flowers. If it flowers before leafing out, look and see if these is not some branch that is slightly ahead of the rest. For herbaceous plants, the flowers, lower, and upper leaves. Remember to add to your field notes observations that you cannot preserve such as the plant height or whether it was a tree of shrub.
  • Bend the stem or branch if it is too long to fit the paper. If you clip off portions of the branch, leave a stub so that people can see that you have done so.
  • If the plants are small, the specimen should contain several individuals (assuming the population is large enough to support collecting several).
  • Do not leave bits hanging out of thepress. They will not get pressed and will probably simply be broken off.
  • Specimens look best if dried by having air move over them. The air temperature should be no more than 100°F or thereabouts. Placing the press over a heating vent is very effective

Preparing the label.There will be a format for you to use in the preparation of mounts. A copy is found on my website. Unless stated otherwise, use of the format is mandatory. It is much easier to grade specimens if they all come in with the data placed in exactly the same format. Three warnings:

  • Proof read the portions of the label that are not spell-checked. These are the scientific names. I deduct points for errors.
  • Be sure you put the right plants and labels together.
  • Clean up all smudges, stains, smears, and errors. Neatness is as important as accuracy of identification.

Collection grading. Making a good collection is time consuming. That is why it is graded as carefully as it is. You may have information sheets and specimen sheets graded early as you complete them. I strongly advise that you do this. Each specimen and its label will be examined. The maximum possible number of points per specimen is 4. You start with 4, but lose points as indicated in the following guidelines. You may resubmit any specimens for regrading after repairs, but you may submit up to 5 specimens at a time for early grading. No regrading is allowed after the deadline.

  • Identification. Is it correct? If it is not correct, how bad is the error? Points are lost if a quick check in the available resources would have been enough to show you the error of your ways. If it is close, perhaps a very similar species that you are not capable of separating, there may be no deduction, just a question mark. If it involved a mistake in a character you should not misinterpret (e.g., color-leaf shape-height), the loss might be 3 points. This is a judgment call.
  • You are supposed to have identified the plants in your collection by keying them out or matching similar parts so, if your specimen does not have all the parts required for keying (flower, stem, leaves) , you will get no credit, even if the identification is correct. Your specimen should be complete.
  • Spelling and typographical errors that have not been corrected (use pen or typed). Varies from 0.5-2 points, depending on how many and how severe the problems are. NOTE: these errors mount up if you forget that you may have the same error on many labels because of the ease with which information canbe copied from one label to the next.
  • Repairs may be unacceptable, and result in deductions, if they do not improve the original error/mistake/lack of neatness.