[SOS-PCA] Herbarium specimens query

[Michael Way]

Dear Kate and team.
You've raised two issues, one on the selection of herbarium 
material, one on the labelling of multiple specimens where material 
won't fit on a single sheet.  As this may be of general interest, i'll 
copy these comments to the PCA-SOS discussion list.

First, we would like to see as many organs represented on the 
herbarium specimen as possible, so if the larger, basal leaves of 
your plant are required to fully demonstrate the morphology, they 
should be included in the specimen.

Large tree and palm specimens, for example, will often require 
extensive trimming, and then pressing into several sheets per 
specimen, but I doubt that this is necessary for your Galium.  In 
this case, selection of a single stem, with root and fruit, neatly 
folded zig zag style, should be fine.   If you choose to remove 
some leaves to allow more speace for the specimen, don't just pull 
leaves off, but trim them so that the petiole (leaf-stalk) attachment 
to the stem is preserved.  Any flower or fruits that fall off or that you 
need to remove during the pressing, should be carefully placed in a 
folded paper pouch or envelope, labelled with the collection number 
and retained within the specimen.  

Re labelling, I would prefer '1 of 2', '2 of 2' etc if you really need a 
second sheet per specimen, but A, B etc would be acceptable if 
you have started this already.   Again, keep each specimen to a 
single sheet if you can, as each COLLECTION requires at least 4 
identical DUPLICATES that can be sent to participating herbaria.  If 
you make multiple SPECIMENS per duplicate, we will have a 
massive amount of material to track and process.
   
Finally, you may wish to refer to the general 'voucher' advice from 
FLMNH at the following URL  

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herbarium/voucher.htm
Let me know if you need more information,

Michael
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Thu, 8 Jul 2004 11:46:19 -0700 (PDT)
From:           	Kate Martin <seeds.fortord at earthlink.net>
Send reply to:  	Kate Martin <seeds.fortord at earthlink.net>
To:             	Nicola Cotton <n.cotton at rbgkew.org.uk>
Subject:        	Fleshy seeds from CA190 and other questions

On 07/07/04 we sent a box containing Galium californicum seeds which have a sort of watery outer covering over the hard seed.

Question:

I am unsure of how to take the herbarium samples. We have been pulling off dead parts and 
sometimes pulling off some of the leaves or branches of a specimen if it seems too bulky. 
Is this okay? Our botanist suggested that we save these plant parts and label them A,B,C, etc. 
and send them along 
with the herbarium specimen. Any advice you can give us will be greatfully accepted.
---------
We sent Navarretia hamata and I think we forgot to assign it a number. We would like to number it CA190-25.


------- End of forwarded message -------


Michael Way and Nicola Cotton
SoS collections managers at RBG Kew
MILLENNIUM SEED BANK PROJECT
email for all SoS collections queries: sos at kew.org