Question

What do you understand by herbarium? Explain the various steps involved in preparing a herbarium specimen.

Answer 1

The preservation of specific specimens of plants can be done to have detailed information about their origin and characteristics. This can be done by the process of herbarium. Various plant specimens are collected and labeled in order to obtain data about that particular specimen.

Complete answer:
The collection of specific species of anything (plants or animals) is very useful to save information about particular species. The collection of dried plant specimens on the sheet of paper is done in the process of herbarium. The collection of specimens is an in-situ process. Proper handling and care is needed for the preservation of specimens. The plant specimens should be named with their proper scientific name, the name of the collector, information where they are collected and how they grew and general observation. This collection is useful in order to make data of the specimens according to families and genera.

Steps for the preparation of herbarium are:
-Field visit and collection of specimens.
-These specimens spread into the blotting sheet.
-They are placed for drying.
-Mounting step: Herbarium sheet is used to mount the dry specimen.
-Preservation step: The mercuric chloride fungicide is used to preserve specimens.
-Labeling: Specimens properly labeled.

Note: Herbarium is the library for many specimens. It provides proper information about the plant specimen such as their taxonomy and locality information. The world’s flora is documented by this. It provides a constant and permanent record of botanical diversity. Its role is increasingly important as the rate of habitat destruction is increasing. Rapid change in climate ranges species in all aspects of their ecology.