Making a Herbarium Specimen / Voucher Out in the field, collecting plant material to press. • Out in the field collecting 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