CHAPTER 17
PLANT COLLECTING AND DOCUMENTATION
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What are the different types of plant collections?
The different types of plant collections are by drying or liquid preservation, such as voucher specimen and
herbariums. They may also include live plants or propagules taken from the wild and grown in an artificial
environment.
2. List the several uses of plant collections.
Provide material resource material in systematic research; provide reference material for named taxa; verify the
identity of a plant taxon.
3. What is a voucher specimen?
A voucher specimen is an herbarium specimen in a plant collection serving as reference material for named taxon or
as part of a research project.
4. What is the purpose of a voucher specimen?
The purpose of the voucher specimen is to serve as types in the valid publication of new taxa names. They may also
serve as a reference in verifying the identity of a plant taxon.
5. Review the preparations needed for collecting plants in the field.
Review specific collection records, determining the likely location of a plant.
Obtain prior permission or permit for collecting on a tract of land
6. What are the general rules for assessing whether a plant should be collected?
Determine whether the plant is rare, threatened, or endangered.
Any collection should not endanger the local population.
7. List the guidelines for properly collecting plants in the field.
For annuals, the entire plant should be collected including root/ rootstock.
For shrubs, tree, or vines, only one or more branches need to be clipped.
All should be pressed immediately.
8. How should plant collections be stored prior to processing?
Plastic bags, newspaper (open at the top and wetted), and stored in large plastic bag.
After pressing and drying, they should be stored in their newspapers, within genus folders.
9. What is a standard herbarium specimen?
A pressed and dried plant sample that is permanently glued/ strapped to a sheet of paper with a permanent label.
10. What are the components of a plant press?
Several 12”x 18” pieces of standard cardboard that are placed between two, outer 12”x18” frames or plywood,
secured by two straps.
11. Review the guidelines for properly pressing plants, including special requirements for processing (a) herbs; (b) tall herbs;
(c) shrubs or trees; (d) highly branched specimens; (e) rootstocks (such as rhizomes, bulbs, or corms); (f) succulent plants; (g)
flowers and fruits.
For herbs: show roots and underground stems, which should be first rinsed to remove dirt. The herb should fill up
the space of the sheet.
Tall herbs: Can be bent into a V, N or M to fit an entire plant on one sheet. You can cut the herb into two pieces if
necessary to fit into two sheets
Shrubs or trees: Clip back the shoots or leaves to minimize overlapping parts. Orient one leaf up and one leaf down.
Highly branched specimens: Clip back the shoots or leaves to minimize overlapping parts. Orient one leaf up and one
leaf down.
Rootstocks: Slice longitudinally and place on cut side face down and the other face up.
Succulent plants: soak in 95% alcohol for 1-2 days.
Flowers and fruits: Arrange flowers carefully to show parts. Section larger flowers. Place extra flowers to one side.
Fruits may be sectioned.
12. How are herbarium specimens dried?
They are placed within a folded newspaper, within a plant press, this placed inside a plant drier.
13. List all the data that should be recorded in the field at the time of collecting.
Date of collection; country/state/province/county/city; specific locality information; latitude and longitude;
source/accuracy of latitude and longitude; elevation; landmark information; geology/soils, community type and
associates; information about the plant itself not visible on the specimen or that may be lost (e.g., branching patterns,
all important colors); insect visitors.
14. Review in detail how specific plant community types can be assessed.
a) Determine the boundaries of the community.
b) Identify layers present in the community
c) For each layer of vegetation, assess the total cover.
d) Assess relative cover of each common species of a given layer.
e) Summarize the community type by listing layers.
f) Designate vegetation type.
15. Why is it important to list the person who determined the identity of the plant and the determination source?
It is important to list the person who determined the identity of the plant and the determination source, because they
should be given credit for their work, and can be used as a reference for further research.
16. Review the guidelines for preparing liquid-preserved collections.
Place plant sample into a glass or vial filled with FAA. Vial or jar should be labeled both on the outside and on a strip
of paper placed into the fixative. Include the species name and collector and collection number.
17. What is the most common type of liquid preservative?
A fixative called FAA, consisting of 10 parts 70% ethanol, 1 part commercial (37%) formalin: 1 part glacial acetic
acid.
18. What liquid preservatives must be used in ultrastructural studies?
Other fixatives may be needed, such as glutaraldehyde or osmium tetroxide.
19. Review the guidelines for obtaining living plant collections.
Living plant collections may be either a whole plant, a vegetative propagule, or a seed. Living plant collections are
typically grown in a greenhouse or botanic garden, where they can be accessible to a researcher. Growing them and
keeping them alive requires some horticultural experience and may involve trial and error under different regimes of
potting or soil mixture, moisture, and photoperiod. As with liquid-preserved collections, they should be properly
labeled with permanent metal or plastic tags, with collection information corresponding to a voucher specimen
deposited in an herbarium.
20. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living plant collections?
A living plant collection has the great advantage of permitting long-term observations, e.g., through an entire
reproductive stage, or experimental manipulations, such as breeding studies. It also permits removing fresh samples
of material for study over an extended period of time (rather than from a single field expedition).
However, one precaution about studying live plant collections is that their morphology may be altered in cultivation
from that in the wild. In addition, pollinators normally present in the wild will not normally be present in an artificial
environment, perhaps preventing normal seed set.
21. How is material for molecular studies normally collected?
A standard method for collecting material for studies of DNA is to cut pieces of leaves or other plant tissue and
immerse these in a container (vial or plastic bag) of silica gel. A paper label, indicating the taxon and the name and
number of the collector (corresponding to an herbarium voucher collection), is placed in the container.