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