Question

The types of herbaria is based on :
A. Purpose
B. Region
C. Plant groups
D. All of the above

Answer 1

Herbarium is a collection of preserved plant specimens used for scientific study. These plant specimens are labeled, stored, and preserved in an organized manner for the purpose of study observation, education, and research.

Complete answer: To make a herbarium plant parts or the whole plant is dried and mounted on a sheet of paper. The plant part is dried using blotting paper and moisture is removed. This dried plant is mounted on a sheet of paper. This sheet of paper is labeled with the common name, scientific name, location of the plant, name of the collector, etc. The taxonomic classification of the plant is also mentioned. Herbarium helps in the identification of unknown and new plant species. Herbarium plays an important role in studying plant taxonomy.
Hence, option d is correct, i.e., the herbaria is based on purpose, region, and plant groups.

Additional information:
There are many types of herbaria such as historic herbaria, herbaria of limited scope, teaching herbaria, job-related herbaria, herbaria for research. Steps for the formation of herbaria are-
1. Collection and pressing of specimens: leaves and flower are detached and placed on a sheet
2. Drying of specimens: Specimens are dried without artificial heat by placing the specimens in a herbarium press for 24 hours and with artificial heat using a drying press.
3. Mounting of specimen: Dried specimens are mounted on a sheet with dimensions of 12"×18" using gum of 1% HgCl$_2$.
4. Labeling of specimens: Scientific name, botanical name, family, genus, species, place, habitat, date, and place of collection, name of collector is written on the right side of the lower corner of the sheet.
5. Storage of sheets: These sheets are kept for future record and are kept according to Bentham or Hooker or Engler and Prantl's system of classification.
6. Protection of herbarium sheets: Using techniques such as DDT, carbon tetrachloride, and naphthalene balls.

Note: Herbaria is a collection of plants that are preserved and mounted on a sheet of paper. It helps in the study and identification of plants. It also gives information about the plant such as it’s family botanical and local names etc.