OCT 2 9 1973

COLLECTION AND CARE

OF
BOTANICAL SPECIMENS

RESEARCH BRANCH
CANADA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

^■i^:htific LDmi:^ ......

Publication 1113 March 1962

Reprinted with Addenda 1 973

COLLECTION AND CARE

OF
BOTANICAL SPECIMENS

D.B.O. Savile

Plant Research Institute

Central Experimental Farm

Ottawa, Ontario

RESEARCH BRANCH
CANADA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

© Crown Copyrights reserved
Available by mail from Information Canada, Ottawa,
and at the following Information Canada bookshops :

HALIFAX

1683 Harrington Street

MONTREAL

640 St. Catherine Street West

OTTAWA

171 Slater Street

TORONTO

221 Yonge Street

WINNIPEG

393 Portage Avenue

VANCOUVER

800 Granville Street

or through your bookseller

Price: $2.50 Catalogue No. A53-1113

Price subject to change without notice

Information Canada
Ottawa, 1962

Reprinted with addenda 1973

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction vi

Introduction to Reprint Edition viii

Chapter 1. Vascular Plants 1

Collecting 1

The Specimen 1

Field Notes 4

Equipment 8

The Field Press 10

Construction, 10. Use, 13.

Special Clothing 16

Boots, 16. Water-repellent clothing, 17. Windproof clothing,
18

Biting Insects 20

Special Collecting Techniques 21

Aquatic plants, 21. Sticky plants, 22. Fleshy plants, 23.
Spruce and hemlock, 24. Arctic and alpine collecting, 25

Pressing and Drying 26

General Principles 26

Laying Out Specimens 28

The Press 32

Frames, 32. Ventilators, 32. Felts, 34. Straps, 34. Emergency
presses, 34. Tightening the press, 35

Driers 36

Installed driers, 36. Portable driers, 38. Emergency driers, 41

Packing and Shipping Dried Specimens 42

Processing Dried Specimens 43

Preparing Labels 43

Laying Out for Mounting 43

Mounting 44

Mounting paper, 45. Mounting board, 45. Adhesive, 45.
Brushes, 45. Forceps, 45. Gummed linen tape, 45. Plastic
stripping, 46. Mounting procedure, 46

Herbarium Packets 49

Herbarium Sequence 50

Herbarium Cases 51

Protection from Insects 52

Loan and Exchange 54

Records, 54. Handling specimens, 54. Packing, 56

iii

Page

58

Chapter 2. Fungi ^g

Collecting and Drying ^^

Introduction -^

Field Notes ^

Foliicolous Fungi

Fleshy Fungi • ^^

Wood-destroying Fungi

Microfungi on Twigs, Bark, etc ^^

Coprophilous Fungi ^^

Myxomycetes ^^

Plant Disease Specimens ^^

Processing Dried Specimens ^^

Introduction ^^

Packeting and Labeling. ^^

Accessioning and Indexing

Exsiccata g^

Herbarium Sequence ^^

Insertion ^j

Herbarium Cases ^2

Boxed Specimens ^^

Myxomycetes ^^

Protection from Insects ^^

Loan and Exchange

98
Chapter 3. Mosses and Liverworts ^^

Collecting and Drying ^^^

Processing Dried Specimens

103

Chapter 4. Lichens ^^3

Collecting jq4

Crustose Lichens jq^

Foliose Lichens jO^

Fruticose Lichens ^0^

Drying ■■■"■■■■■■ 107

Labeling ^07

Processing Dried Specimens

109

Chapter 5. Algae ^^

Fresh-water Algae jq^

Collecting jj2

Processing jj2

Marine Algae jj2

Collecting jj4

Preserving jj^

Mounting

Addenda

124

Index

iv

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Figure 1. Example of completed field label 5

Figure 2. Permanent label prepared from field label 6

Figures. Sheath for digger 9

Figure 4. Field press in use 11

Figure 5. Field press opened to show construction 12

Figure 6. A. Large-panicled plant with zigzag fold. B. Use of

papers to keep folded parts in position 30

Figure 7. The press 33

Figure 8. Installed drying cabinet 37

Figure 9. Portable drier 39

Figure 10. Machine-made herbarium packet 49

Figure 11. Preparing mushrooms for making spore prints in the

field 69

Figure 1 2. Method of preparing hand-folded packets 79

Figure 13. Method of marking folders in mycological herbarium . . 90

INTRODUCTION

This handbook is intended for both amateur and profes-
sional botanists. It is unUkely that anyone will be interested
in all the topics but the material is arranged for ready refer-
ence to a particular subject or type of plant.

Concise accounts are given of procedures and devices that
have been tried at the Plant Research Institute and found to
be best for collecting and preserving botanical specimens.
Outmoded equipment such as the vasculum is not discussed.

The instructions for preparing specunens of vascular plants
and fungi are much more detailed than those for bryophytes,
lichens and algae. This is because, first, some of the methods
described in the first two chapters are applicable to the others.
The reader who has learned to use presses and driers in
Chapter 1 can readily apply this knowledge to other groups
of plants without specific instructions. Second, the Institute
is at present concentrating much more on the vascular plants
and fungi than on other groups. It is, accordingly, chiefly in
the collection and handling of these plants that we have
original ideas to offer.

The later chapters are included for the beginner and the
general collector rather than for the experienced bryologist,
phycologist or lichenologist. They contain very little original
material but include enough information to enable the
beginner to collect any group of plants unassisted and with

some success.

It is hoped that this manual will be of some assistance to
advanced workers in phanerogamic botany and mycology.
They may add to their own methods what appeals to them
in this work. The advanced worker in other fields will find
what he needs in more specialized works. For example, the
treatment of the microscopic algae does not go beyond field
operations. The further handling of these plants is remote
from the methods used with most botanical specimens and
properly belongs in a course on phycology.

vi

Although many of the methods described are applicable
to the tropics, this manual does not deal with problems
peculiar to tropical regions. It is based mainly on experience
gained in temperate, arctic and alpine Canada and is most
useful to collectors in countries with a somewhat similar
climatic range.

Considerable emphasis is placed on arctic and alpine col-
lecting. This is a field that has until recently been neglected,
both in quality and in quantity of specimens, and is only now
coming fully into its own. In his training as a student in the
temperate zone the average botanical collector never en-
counters, or even learns of, some of the problems that will
beset him on his first trip up a mountain or into the north.
Arctic collecting offers a variety of problems that, if not
solved promptly, may be serious and unpleasant in a region
where the field season is very short and travel costs are high.
Both the comparative inaccessibility and the small but highly
dispersed flora of the arctic make it desirable that arctic
collectors be prepared to collect all groups of plants with the
smallest possible loss of time. Varied experience in several
parts of the Canadian arctic and in the alplands of the
northern Cordillera has given our field parties the opportunity
to overcome many of the difficulties.

This book is based on the experience and suggestions of
various staff members and is accordingly to be regarded as
a product of the Institute. I must explicitly acknowledge the
help of Mr. W. J. Cody in drafting much of the material on
herbarium methods found in Chapter 1, and of Dr. W. G.
Dore, who has long been accumulating information on field
and herbarium techniques. For the last three chapters it is
a pleasure to acknowledge the advice in the field or through
correspondence of Drs. Howard A. Crum, Herman Persson,
William C. Steere, William Randolph Taylor, and William A.
Weber. Much use has been made of the instruction booklets
for naturaUsts in the armed forces, written by Dr. Steere and
Dr. Taylor and published by the University of Michigan.
Some use has also been made of the revised edition of
Dr. Taylor's Marine Algae of the Northeastern Coast of
North America,

vii

INTRODUCTION TO REPRINT EDITION

I am grateful to the many colleagues who commented on
the original book. I recently received notice that immediate
reprinting was planned; but at such short notice extensive re-
writing was not possible. Many comments accordingly had to
be omitted.

New material and the comments that seemed to have wide
usefulness and could be handled concisely have been incor-
porated in numbered addenda at the back of the book; but
controversial items that would have required lengthy discus-
sion have been omitted. Footnotes at appropriate places in
the text draw attention to each of these addenda, which are
also referenced back to the pertinent text page. I apologize
belatedly for the dictatorial style of much of the text, which
resulted from changes made after it left my hands.

Most of the additions stem from Mr. W. J. Cody, Mr. K. W.
Spicer, Dr. J. A. Parmelee, and myself.

D.B.O. Savile
Ottawa
October 1972

viu

CHAPTER 1

VASCULAR PLANTS

Collecting
The Specimen

Making satisfactory specimens of flowering plants, fems
and fern allies requires ample and well-pressed material
labeled with all pertinent information.

In collecting small herbaceous plants, take the whole
plant, including the root system; the type of root system or
the presence and shape of bulbs or tubers may be diagnostic.
Fold tall plants neatly to a length slightly less than the width
of a newspaper. They will then fit on a standard sheet of
herbarium mounting paper (16iXlH inches).

Large and bulky plants must be trimmed in various ways.
Split the lower part of a very thick stem, or a fleshy crown.
This treatment hastens drying and, by enabling the elements
of the press to come together more closely, prevents the
leaves from wrinkling. Occasionally remove some leaves;
otherwise they will lie several deep on the sheet. Do not
try to conceal the removal of leaves, but cut them off close
to the stems, leaving short stubs that will enable an examining
botanist to see the number and positions of the leaves. Do
not remove too many leaves from one part of the plant, for
the leaves may vary in form from the bottom to the top of
the stem. Leave all the leaves on if you can; spread them out
or bend the petioles of some of them to prevent over-
lapping and crowding.

Tall plants with large leaves, such as Heracleum maximum,
are difl&cult to prepare. You may have to make a two-sheet
specimen, with the inflorescence and a small upper leaf on

1

one sheet and a middle or lower leaf and a short section of
split stem on the second sheet. Then include in accompany-
ing notes data not evident from the specimen, such as plant
height, size of largest leaf and thickness of stem at base.

If the plants are only about 6 inches high and have a single
flowering stem, take six or eight of them for mounting on
one sheet. Select plants that show the normal range in
variable characters such as height. When collecting minute
plants, take a dozen or more, as many of these bear only
one or a few flowers or fruits. If plants are to be sent away
for identification take enough for at least two sheets, one for
the collector and one for the determiner.

Specimens of trees and shrubs should include vegetative
shoots, flowering or fruiting shoots and patches of bark, cut
to fit the sheet. Make notes on estimated height, trunk diam-
eter at breast height (d.b.h.) and habit (tree or shrub,
spreading or columnar, branches erect or pendulous, or
similar information).

It takes very little time and is helpful to include extra
flowers or fruit with the specimens. They are eventually put
into packets, and can be used for dissection without the
mounted specimen being mutilated.

With various plants, fruiting material is more important
than flowering material. This is particularly true of the
Cruciferae (mustard family), Onagraceae (evening primrose
family), Umbelliferae (carrot family), Juncaceae (rushes),
Cyperaceae (sedges), and (young fruit only) the genus Salix
(willows); but this recommendation applies in different
degrees to a variety of plants. Even fruits that are not impor-
tant to the taxonomist may be necessary for a proper under-
standing of the natural history of a plant. Most herbaria con-
tain inadequate fruiting material of many plants. It is thus
generally advisable to collect both flowering and fruiting
material whenever possible. Sometimes flowers and fruit
occur at the same time on the same plant; sometimes flowers
may be found in a shady spot or moist depression after most
of the colony has gone to fruit. With the complex genus

Crataegus, in which flowers and fruit do not occur simul-
taneously, you should, if possible, tag the tree from which
flowers are taken and return later for the fruits. Collect
grasses after they have started to flower, when the anthers
may be seen hanging from the florets. They may be taken
somewhat later, after the anthers have shriveled; but if they
are taken fully ripe the seeds usually shatter out badly and
a poor specimen results. Sedges (Cyperaceae) should be
taken in neariy full fruit; some species that shed their fruits
readily when fuUy ripe must be collected before the heads
break up when pressed between the fingers.

Remove as much of the soil as possible when you dig the
plants, to avoid disfiguring them. It is often impossible to
remove soil particles from plants that have viscid hairs; and
sand grains may bruise and blacken delicate leaves. The more
soil you remove at the time of digging, the more thoroughly
you can clean the plants before putting them into the press.
A difficult problem is presented by glandular-viscid beach
plants, such as Glehnia littoralis, which are usually encrusted
with sand when you collect them. Such plants are always
robust, however, and may be washed in the sea or in a pool
or stream without damage. By soaking them for a few
minutes and wiping the submerged leaves, you may remove
most of the sand. The roots of plants growing in clay or bog
soil must generally be washed in water. The dense tangle of
roots of some rhizomatous grasses and sedges often presents
a difficult problem. You may often save time by standing
some clumps in water while working on others. If you are
near a fast brook or a beach with breaking waves, weigh
down the plants with stones so that the roots are in the mov-
ing water, but the tops out of it, and leave them while col-
lecting other plants.

Some arctic and alpine plants have several years'
accumulation of dried leaves at their bases. Do not remove
all of these leaves, because they are sometimes an aid in
identification (for example, in Potentilla). Similarly, fibrous
remains of old leaves (for example, in some Carex or
Umbelliferae) should not be cleaned off completely.

Reld Notes

Make notes in the field on any items that may not be
obvious from the dried specimen. It is from this information
that the final label must be prepared (Figure 2). Include
colors, especially of flowers, which often change in drying;
scent; records of blossom-visiting insects; height and habit
of plants too large to be included intact in the specimen;
associated vegetation, such as type of forest or grassland;
degree of shade; approximate soil type and soil moisture;
elevation, at least in mountain coimtry; exposure; slope;
locaUty; date; collector's name; and collection number. All
collectors should regularly use collection numbers. A simple
numerical sequence that goes on from year to year is much
better than a complex system that starts anew each year.
Apart from other uses, the collection number greatly simpU-
fies the citation of specimens by students who use the speci-
mens in later years.

If the stature or habit varies greatly with soil moisture,
shade or any other factor, record the extremes of variation.
Elevation is important in mountainous country, and the
elevation range is equally important; but the range of eleva-
tion may differ markedly on the two sides of a mountain
or ridge. Exposure is important, especially in mountainous
areas. A southern exposure generally speeds flowering in
the north temperature zone. In the arctic, however, exposure
is often more important for its relationship to the direction
of the winter wind, and the snow that accumulates on the
down-wind slope of a steep hill, bank or cUff and covers
the ground for most of the summer. Near a seacoast the
seaward slope is generally much wetter than the landward
one. The insect relationships of many genera — even of some
entire families — are still almost unknown. It is therefore
important to record as precisely as possible the type of insect
visitor whenever one is seen at a rare plant or one that grows
in inaccessible places.

The method of recording data depends on circumstances
and personal preference. A simple method is to use a field
label, an example of which is shown in Figure 1 . This is

DEPARTMENT OF AGRtCULTURE. OTTAWA, CANADA

FORM SB 249
15516-MX-75t

-<!^-<:;,^-<til«r<>rt?^^

:&

LOCALITY .^-^^

.^^5:*;*,^. kJ!CJIL7'N jm*A'?:'j^

HABITAT Q&!fr<^...t^hfr^.....!^^

- rrf%!a.A.(e-.

L€».fr%Ar '$P, Jim

jZ33f

itrjl^!k^.....'f:..^?^<i...(^^

^ t

Rgur* 1. — Example of completed field label. The printed form it generally
filled out In pencil at the time of collection. The name of the plant is added later.

generally a printed form with headings for the different types
of data. The information is recorded, usually in pencil, on
the spot when the collection is made, and the label is put
in the field press with its specimen. When the permanent
labels (Figure 2) are prepared by someone other than the
collector, some kind of field label is necessary.

PLANTS OF MACKENZIE DISTRICT
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA

Astragalus eueosmus Robinson
det. B.Boivin 1950

Plant ascending; flowers purple.
Rare in clay soil in valley of creek
Local*

Yellowknife: Baker Creek at Giant Mine.
62^2T^ 1U^22'W

2339 W.J.Cody & J.B.McCanse June 30,1949

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA, CANADA SA 165

tS2M— PM — »«7

Flgur* 2. — Permanent label prepared from field label shown In Rgure 1.

When time in the field is at a premium, and the collector
is making 50 or more collections a day, making out field
labels takes too long. Under these circumstances we have
used the following method. Data that may be forgotten or
confused before the day is over, such as altitude in mountain
collecting, are written on the sheets in the field press (and
stroked through at the end of the day, since the sheets will
be used for other collections next day). At the end of the
day, generally as the plants are being pressed, collection
numbers are assigned and the data are written in the field
notebook. Suppose that 15 species are collected from a

6

particular habitat such as an alpine meadow at 6,200 feet.
For the first specimen, let us say "10,844, Claytoma lanceo-
lata" we record full information. For the others we write
"Hab. 10844" and other data peculiar to each specimen. By
this method as much as an hour may be saved in the time
spent in recording the data for a heavy day's collecting.
Even more important, you may save about two minutes per
specimen in the field. Such a saving is vital when you climb
a mountain in the morning and must be down again before
dark, or when you are put ashore for a limited time from a
boat or aircraft. True, a little of the time saved is later lost
when you are making up the permanent labels, for you often
have to turn back a page in the field notebook to check a
habitat. The field notebook is the key to this system and must
be most carefully preserved. It should not actually be carried
in the field, but should be kept in the vehicle or building
that serves as a field base.

Various modifications are possible in the method of
recording data. Some workers take a portable typewriter
into the field and in the evening type a master label and
one carbon copy for each of the day's collections that will
yield more than one sheet. (The original label stays with the
specimen while the carbon is being used for making copies.)
This method allows labels to be made with a minimum of
reference to notes, and it certainly saves time after the
return from the field. But it cuts into one's time in the field
and demands a more punctilious adherence to a timetable
than most of us can achieve when the collecting is good.
Another alternative that we are starting to test, and that
should prove practical when the collector is based on a place
with a standard power supply, is to dictate label details
into a portable tape recorder (complete except for the name
of the plant, which would involve the stenographer in too
many spelling problems). This method has already been
tested at Ottawa, and seems to depend only on adequate
stenographic service. It should certainly be less exhausting
than using the typewriter at the end of a heavy day's work.

Equipment

Besides a container for the specimens, which is described
in the next section, several items are needed for general
collecting.

The most important item is a sturdy instrument for digging
plants. A really stout sheath knife will serve, but a cut-down
bayonet is much better. I prefer a well-made botanist's trowel,
but it must be made of heavy-gauge tool steel and should be
strongly curved for added stiffness. Some trowels on the
market are flimsy; rather than attempting to use one of these,
get a blacksmith to make you one. A hght digger soon bends
or breaks when used in stony ground or for cutting through
a heavy sod.

Those of us who are absent-minded prefer to drill a hole
through the handle of the digger for a lanyard of rawhide or
lacing cord (not string, which quickly unravels). Tie a knot
in the end of the cord to secure it to the digger. Make a
loop in the other end and sUp it over the belt. The digger
may then be carried, handle down, in a pocket; or, preferably,
in a scabbard on the belt, hand-sewn with heavy waxed
thread and a sailor's palm out of a piece of wide webbing
strap (Figure 3). Support the scabbard from aporoximately
the height of the top of the digger. If the loop is too low the
heavy-handled digger will turn upside down and fall out.
When you are wearing a parka or other long-skirted coat,
carry the digger on an extra belt worn outside the parka;
otherwise you will always be groping for it.

A sharp knife should be carried for cutting and trimming
large specimens. The digger should not be used as a knife.
You cannot keep an edge on the blade near the tip; and if
you keep a keen edge on the basal part of the blade you
may suffer a seriously cut hand.

Pruning shears are useful especially for cutting spiny
plants, and should always be carried when there is much
likelihood of collecting such specimens; but they cannot
replace a knife for some purposes, and may be omitted when
you must travel light. The compact type whose blade cuts
against a soft metal pad is preferred.

8

Ftgur* 3. — Digger In sheath made
from webbing strap.

In mountainous country an altimeter is necessary unless
large-scale topographic maps are available for the whole
area, and even then it will be a great convenience. Some of
the cheap altimeters sold for installation in cars are prac-
tically useless; they are inaccurate and subject to such severe
hysteresis that they may read about 1,000 ft. different on
the ascent and descent at a given point. A reasonably good
pocket aneroid is satisfactory. It is neither necessary nor
desirable to use a highly sensitive surveyor's instrument, since
an error of 100 feet or so is of littie importance in deter-
mining plant distributions on a slope of several thousands
of feet. For use in a car an old aircraft sensitive altimeter
cannot be beaten, being easy to read and sufficiently sturdy.
Every few years it should be recalibrated and a correction

table taped to the case. Any aircraft instrument shop will be
able to do the calibration; or, if necessary, it can be done
in the laboratory under a bell jar, with the aid of a vacuum
line and a sensitive manometer. The method is described in
aircraft instrument manuals.

There is Uttle need to list here the general run of non-
botanical equipment for field and camp; but one item may
be mentioned. If you expect to spend much time in a tent
with next to no furniture, there is a problem involved in
keeping books, notebooks and miscellaneous small items
from becoming damp, dirty or dispersed. A large brief-case
of the type that stands up and opens like a gladstone bag is
excellent for the purpose. For brief trips, when you are
traveling light, such items as you need can be put in a plastic
bag.

The Field Press

Of the many means that have been used to carry plants
imtil they can be transferred to the press, there can be little
doubt that the best, under nearly all circumstances, is what
has come to be called the field press. Actually, it is a satchel
or portfolio rather than a press, but the name is now estab-
lished. The field press seems to have been predominantly
a North American development. Various institutions have
evolved serviceable designs from crude early models. The one
described below, and illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, is the
joint development of several members of the Institute. In its
present form it has proved satisfactory under a variety of
arctic, alpine and lowland conditions.

Construction. — ^Basically the field press is a satchel of light-
weight waterproof fabric. Until recently we used water-
proofed canvas, but we have now changed to a rubberized
nylon fabric, which, although initially more expensive, is
very light and almost indestructible. The dimensions are
based on the corrugated cardboard ventilators, 18X12
inches, used with the plant press, described later in this
chapter. A ventilator is slid into a pocket at each end of the

10

Figure 4. — Field press in use.

field press to stiffen it. These pockets also serve to hold small
pieces of equipment, such as labels, paper or plastic bags,
maps, and often the collector's lunch if he is out on foot for
the whole day. It will be seen from the illustration that there
is a flap at one side which covers the top of the closed press,
reducing drying of the specimens and protecting the paper
and cardboard from rain. At each end of each half of the
press there are other flaps that are folded inward to reduce
drying and prevent the loss of small specimens. These flaps
hook together, being closed with a strong but quick-releasing
hook-and-eye fastener that may be made or bought locally.
They are mounted on light webbing straps with a sliding
length adjuster. The webbing is attached to a loop of shock
cord (rubber strands with a woven cotton covering), which
slides through a casing in each side of the flap. The shock
cord is securely sewn into the base of the flap, by hand sewing
with heavy thread through both rubber and canvas, with the

11

0)

c

0)

•^—

^

(/)

K

o

t

o

!

Q

iS

"5

1

I

I

s

aid of a sailor's palm. Attempts to anchor the shock cord
by pinching it with machine stitching have always proved
ineffective, but stitching repeatedly through the cord anchors

12

it for the life of the field press. The shock cord must
be anchored at the base of the flap to allow adequate
extensibility.

Use. — ^Place a supply of cut and folded newsprint in the
side of the press without the covering flap. The paper is
held in place with a cardboard ventilator and the tension
of the shock cord. As specimens are collected, lay sheets
of paper in the other side with the hinge towards the center
of the field press. Place specimens as neatly as possible on
the sheet and fold the sheet over them. Add a cardboard
and hook the flaps together over it. Start with the webbing
straps adjusted so that the specimens are held snugly. As
the bulk of the specimens increases during the day it may
be necessary to slack off the straps. If this side of the press
becomes very heavily loaded, start inserting specimens in
the opposite side with the supply of paper, which will now
be greatly diminished.

On hot, dry days spread a few handfuls of grass or other
foliage over the bottom of the press before the first specimens
are inserted, otherwise wilting will soon occur. Under very
arid conditions it is advisable to start with damp paper. If
the paper is not sufficiently damp from the previous day's
work, sprinkle a little water here and there between the
sheets. There are a few plants, such as Melampyrum lineare,
that are very hard to collect without the leaves wilting and
crumpling. If possible take a press to the colony and press
the plants directly. If this procedure is impractical, lay the
plants in the field press in soaking wet paper.

Some collectors prefer to lay out their plants for the
press directly in the field press, and to transfer them to the
press in the same paper. Others use fresh paper in the
press and do their final laying out after returning from the
field. Whichever method is adopted depends partly on
personal preference but largely on field conditions. If one
is working in very hot weather, when rapid wilting is to be
expected, there is an advantage in pressing the plants with-
out rehandling; for limp leaves and petals may easily be
damaged. When this method is used it is important that the

13

tension on the specimens should be strong, to prevent their
slipping. The webbing straps should be tightened and it is
as well to use two cardboards over the specimens, including
one with the corrugations running lengthwise.

There are various circumstances that make the final lay-
ing out of the specimens in the field impractical or even quite
impossible. In windy situations, such as predominate in
arctic, alpine and seacoast areas, rearrangement will always
be necessary. Many plants that form dense rosettes are too
heavy to keep their relative positions in the field press com-
pletely. (Fortunately such plants usually are not delicate and
may generally be piled in without injury.) When biting
insects are a serious pest, as is generally true in the boreal
forest and subarctic, even the most stoical collector will do
a worse job of laying out specimens in the field than indoors.
Whenever collecting time is scarce — on short stops ashore
from a boat or plane, stops on a trip with an inflexible
schedule, or day trips up a mountain — the time needed for
perfect cleaning and final laying out in the field is completely
unjustified, for it may halve your collecting volume.

Under more favorable circumstances one must balance the^
risk of damage to possibly flaccid specimens against some-
what dirtier specimens of whole plants (since the first clean-
ing can hardly ever be complete), a slightly longer drying
time that results from putting damp paper into the press,
and the occasional annoyance of having to write on a sheet
of paper that has parts of plants under the comer on which
you wish to write. In using the direct layout method you
put clean dry paper in your field press each day; but there
is some advantage in using slightly damp paper from the
previous day if the weather is at all conducive to wilting.
Except where the plants are flaccid, somewhat better looking
specimens almost always result from transferring them to
fresh paper in the press; this is particularly true of herba-
ceous plants, which usually bear some loose soil no matter
how carefully they were cleaned when collected. If soil
particles are pressed on the leaves they cause permanent
disfigurement.

14

The length of time that plants can be kept in the field
press without damage varies widely with the weather. On
scorching days in the Upper Sonoran regions of southern
British Columbia we have found it advisable to press the
morning's collections before lunch and those of the eariy
afternoon at about 4 p.m. The presses are carried in the
panel truck that is used as a mobile base. Usually in southern
Canada, plants can be kept all day in the field press if it
is kept tightly closed and out of the sun and wind. In the
arctic, at the other extreme, we have kept plants up to eight
days in good condition in a field press kept tightly closed
and sheltered from the sun and wind. If necessary, in the
arctic you can peel off a layer of mosses or other plants
and place the field press under them within a few inches
of the permafrost. Although long delays are not ordinarily
recommended, they may occur if one is weather-bound away
from one's base. It is much better in cool, moist climates
to keep the plants fresh in the field press than to put them
in presses without adequate heat, when browning always
occurs. For short boat or plane trips away from base the
presses may be left behind at a substantial saving of space
and weight.

It will be seen from Figure 4 that the field press has both
handles and a sling that serves as a shoulder strap; both
are made from several layers of the fabric used for the
construction of the field ptess. The handles are used for
carrying the field press during active collecting. When the
press is heavily filled, or when one is returning from a long
hike, the sling, which is passed through both handles and
slung over one shoulder, provides considerable relief. The
sling serves two other functions. You can put your head
and one arm through it and hang the field press across your
back, leaving both hands free on cliffs and steep slopes or
when pushing through dense thickets. The sling can also
be put through the handles and pulled over the end of the
field press, holding it closed — a feature that has proved
useful when frequent loading and unloading of cars, boats
or planes has been necessary.

15

Special Clothing

Although clothing requirements for field work in tem-
perate regions are usually readily settled by experience and
common sense, there are some special conditions that are
worth considering.

Boots. — ^When collecting is to be done in a great variety
of habitats, boots probably cause more trouble and argument
than any other single piece of equipment. No one type of
boot is well suited to all circumstances. If you are working
continually in the humid forest of the Pacific coast, with
moss-grown logs lying everywhere, there is nothing to beat
the logger's caulked boots of good solid leather. Leather
boots without caulks are preferable for general work in
warm regions, where rubber boots keep your feet per-
petually wet with perspiration. Caulked boots are impractical
in settled country, for you will be most unpopular if you wear
them into restaurants, cabins, or people's homes. Keep leather
boots well greased with a commercial leather dressing or a
mixture of one part beeswax and three parts mutton tallow.
If frequent trips are to be made into bogs or marshes, and
time is at a premium, take along a pair of pull-on rubber
boots to wear over your shoes. For collecting aquatic plants
in fairly deep water waders are generally satisfactory; but,
if the water is warm, swimming trunks and canvas running
shoes will serve. If the area is dry ordinary low shoes may
be practical for some conditions. But they are uncomfortable
for rough ground; and in the dry range lands of British
Columbia, where Bromus tectorum is thick along the road-
sides and its seeds riddle your socks each time you leave your
car, you will soon abandon them. The type of boot with
rubber below the ankle and leather above is a fair com-
promise when much bog or marsh collecting is involved.
However, the leather uppers do not remain fully waterproof
for long; and this type of boot is hard on the heels of socks
unless thin leather 'sock savers' are used. In cool conditions,
when much wet ground is anticipated and perspiration is

16

not a serious problem, laced rubber boots reaching nearly
to the knees are satisfactory. They should be large enough
to fit snugly over two pairs of heavy wool socks. The double
socks absorb most of a day's perspiration better than the
traditional single socks and heavy insoles. They also creep
less than insoles when you are walking all day. Such a
boot proved much the best in the cool bog country of the
Queen Charlotte Islands, where the colloidal material of the
bogs quickly emulsified and washed out the grease from
leather boots.

Water-repellent clothing. — Some sort of water-repellent
clothing is necessary for the collector who is continuously
in the field in regions of high rainfall. Rubber- or neoprene-
impregnated clothing is almost essential for wear in heavy
rain. Its disadvantage is that it is water-vapor-proof; and, if
you are doing strenuous work or the weather is warm, the
perspiration condensing inside it soon makes you wet. People
who first experience this phenomenon often refuse to believe
that the garments are not leaking. It seems to be impossible
to ventilate either a full suit or a long coat of such material
sufficiently to prevent this trouble without letting the rain in.
Opening the neck and *pumping' at frequent intervals by
moving the garment to and from your body helps to ven-
tilate it. In a continuous drizzle in the Queen Charlotte
Islands we found that we stayed drier without such suits
than with them, and generally wore field jackets and trousers
of heavy cotton drill, which could be dried out at a campfire.
I have used a neoprene-nylon suit with considerable success
in cold arctic rains, when camping in small tents where the
drying of clothes was very difficult. Trousers or leggings of
such material are also excellent for travel through brush or
long grass in wet weather. Mere water-repellent clothing is
soaked in a few minutes under such conditions. If the trousers
are worn with a jacket or coat that is water-repellent but
is pervious to water vapor it is possible to stay reasonably
comfortable. Raincoats or jackets should have hoods; but
if you wear glasses a cap with a long peak is also advisable.

17

Windproof clothing. — ^Windproof clothing is often desir-
able for alpine collecting and is essential on most days in the
less benign parts of the arctic. Arctic-alpine conditions are
sufficiently variable to prevent any single type of clothing
from being ideal. You will Ukely be warm enough while
climbing a mountain to be comfortable in cotton shirt and
slacks and hip-length unlined zippered jacket with a hood.
Unless the weather is obviously warm and windless and
your time above treeline is to be short, you should also carry
a sweater in your field press or a rucksack to put on just
before leaving the shelter of the trees. The jacket should be
worn open, for ventilation, until its full warmth is needed.
Throwing up the hood, without drawing it tight, nearly
doubles the warmth of such a jacket when you are working
in a strong wind. Under conditions of variable temperature,
but not extreme cold, the unlined windproof jacket with
a good sweater or a mackinaw woolen shirt is better than
a heavy parka because it gives you greater range of
protection.

In most parts of the arctic, wind is the botanist's chief
enemy; it blurs vision, makes it difficult to handle collecting
equipment, and causes considerable discomfort. The choice
of clothing again depends on circumstances. On a sunny
day with an air temperature of 50° F. you may be perfectly
comfortable in cotton shirt and slacks, or even without a
shirt, as long as there is no wind. But even a moderate
breeze makes at least an unlined parka necessary, and you
should always carry one unless you are working very close
to camp. Two jackets can be used with benefit. A front-
opening parka, either with a detachable lining or supple-
mented by a mackinaw shirt, is best for general use when
working from a building in moderate weather or for short
intervals. If it closes with a zipper there should be a supple-
mentary buttoned flap to keep the wind out. For really strong
winds (you may have to work in winds of 30 to 40 m.p.h.
because you cannot afford to wait for improved conditions),
and especially if you are going to be out for long periods,
a true parka or anorak is preferable. This is a loose jacket

18

of closely woven duck or other stout and windproof mate-
rial, opening only at the throat with a short bellows insert
that is closed by a zipper or lace. The hood is sewn on and
should fit snugly, even without use of a drawstring, when
the throat is closed. The jacket should be long enough so
that a strap can be buttoned under the crotch. This last
feature prevents the wind from whistling up your back each
time you stoop. The anorak should be a slack fit even with
heavy clothing under it, not only because of the extra warmth
that results from a loose fit, but to make it easier to pull off
without assistance. If you find you are getting too warm,
open the throat and pump some air in and out; for if you
let your clothes get damp with perspiration you may chill
badly before you can get back to camp. All parkas should
have large side pockets, and they should also have extra
pockets at chest level to hold objects that would be crushed
in the lower pockets when you bend down.

Windproof trousers of heavy duck that pull on over
regular trousers are nearly ideal for windy weather. Some
are supplied with tapes to tie under the instep, which keeps
them from working out of your boots.

What you wear under your windproofs is largely a matter
of personal preference. If you must do your own laundry in
camp with a minimum of hot water you are unlikely to
favor long underwear. My own preference is for cotton
shorts and a string undershirt, which are easily washed.
The string undershirt holds your shirt away from you, mak-
ing a layer of still air with good insulating value. A flannel-
ette shirt with either a sweater or mackinaw shirt over it
will provide enough warmth for most conditions; but on
extremely bitter days both may be appreciated. The mack-
inaw shirt is better than a sweater because it hangs loose
and is not as likely to ride up around your waist. Cotton
slacks are usually adequate under the windproof trousers,
but woolen ones may be preferred on exceptionally bad
days.

New synthetic materials both for the covering and for the
insulation of parkas have been appearing on market recently.

19

Garments made from them are very light, yet warm. New
closures, to improve windproofness, are also becoming avail-
able. You should check with all the suppUers in your region
before making a choice.

Biting Insects

In much of the Canadian boreal forest and subarctic,
biting insects are numerous enough to constitute an actual
hazard to health rather than a mere annoyance. Collectors
new to such country, who have acquired no immunity to
the toxins of these insects, should treat them with respect.
Some minor groups are intermittently annoying, such as the
tabanids, which give a painful bite but are seldom very
numerous, and the minute nosee-ums, which may alight on
you in a cloud and cause a diffused burning of the skin
that is, fortunately, seldom prolonged. However, the impor-
tant insects are the mosquitoes (mostly Aedes spp.) and the
blackflies (Simuliidae), of which several species will almost
always be present in any northern spruce forest and muskeg
area.

Although mosquito bites may be sharply painful at first
and the irritation may last for some hours, the toxic effect
is usually slight. If you wear tightly woven but loose clothing,
closely fitted at neck and wrists, any good modem repellent
on hands and face will generally reduce their annoyance to a
minimum. An unlined parka with a hood and zippered front
is a great help. A significant aspect of the mosquito nuisance
is the psychological effect of hundreds of the insects hum-
ming about you. The novice must cultivate a philosophical
attitude and remind himself that he will not actually be
sucked dry; for otherwise he may spend more time in the
unproductive occupation of swatting a minor fraction of
the horde than he spends in his work.

To most people blackflies are a much more serious menace
than mosquitoes. Being short-legged and more robust than
mosquitoes they often get inside one's clothes unobserved
and uninjured. They may bite repeatedly, unnoticed, for the

20

bites seldom start to itch for several hours and may then
itch for days. Even the stoic who does not scratch the bites
while awake may do so in his sleep; and the scratched bites
often fester, making a sore that is slow to heal. Blackfly bites
are much more serious on untanned skin than on the tanned
and thickened skin of hands and face. Preventing the insects
from getting under your clothing is therefore most important.
When applying repellent, pull up your sleeves and loosen
your collar, and apply the material several inches above the
wrist and low on the neck. Blackflies will not cross such a
barrier. A gaping buttoned shirt invites trouble. Cover it by
a hip-length zippered jacket of light material or an unlined
parka. Fasten trousers securely inside your boots. If you
wear two pairs of wool socks, one inside and one outside
your trousers, a blackfly can seldom penetrate by this route.
Always fold the trousers at the back of the leg, for the fold
is always higher than the rest of the cuff; if it is in front it
is easily pulled out of your boot when you bend your knee.
Repellents are seldom effective for more than three hours,
and wear off considerably faster when you perspire freely.
Always carry a bottle of repellent — ^in a buttoned pocket to
prevent accidents. When you must use it in the field, take
care to pile cap, glasses, wrist watch, etc., on the field press,
so that nothing will be lost.

Special Collecting Techniques

Some of the information in this section involves pressing
and drying rather than collecting. However, some duplication
will be eliminated by including it here. Moreover, since
some of the precautions must be taken before the specimens
are pressed, their discussion at this point is not seriously out
of order.

Aquatic plants. — Although some aquatic plants are firm
enough to be handled like land plants, many others, such as
Ruppia, Zannichellia, and some species of Fotamogeton and
Utricularia, are so delicate that surface tension clumps all
the leaves together as soon as they are taken from the water.

21

Float such plants onto sheets of paper; raise the sheets
horizontally until the plants are caught on them and then
gradually tilt and withdraw the sheets. Sheets of herbarium
mounting paper or other high quality paper should be taken
on field trips for this purpose. Cut the sheets in half or
quarter size for this purpose, as it is hard to float out
several small plants on a single large sheet. Preferably,
wash the plants in the field, bring them back to your base
in mass in the field press, and float them out in a sink.
If there are no facilities for floating plants in camp, it may
be best to float them in the pool from which they are
collected. If there is much wind, floating plants in the field
may be very difficult, and you may need to transfer the
plants to a more sheltered pond.

For filmy aquatics prepasted mounting paper has been
tried with some success at this institute. Not all the dry
paste washes off in the brief immersion of the paper. How-
ever, to prevent adhesion of the newsprint to the mounting
paper, cover the specimen with wax paper.

Many aquatics are covered by a mucilaginous slime, often
the product of microscopic algae, which sticks them to the
mounting paper. Cover very delicate species with wax paper;
otherwise they may adhere more firmly to the newsprint
than the mounting paper and you may ruin the specimen
in trying to remove it from the paper. Aquatic plants dry so
quickly that, although the wax paper halves the drying rate,
the delay is not serious. These plants may adhere so firmly
to the mounting paper that they need only reinforcement at
a few points to complete the mounting. See also discussion
of floating marine algae in Chapter 4.*

Sticky plants. — A few plants, such as Drosera, are so sticky
that when they dry it is hard to open the newsprint to
remove them. Unless you experiment first with a very few
plants, do not try to avoid this problem by inserting waxed
paper on one side of the specimens before drying them, for
some plants, including some species of Drosera, stick more
firmly to wax than to plain paper. With some of these plants

^^ * See addendum 1.

22

you might try the phycologist's practice of covering the
specimens with muslin, as described in Chapter 4, but there
is no certainty that the technique will work. Until better
means can be devised, it seems best to press the plants in
the ordinary way, and later to pull back the paper at an
acute angle, rather than to lift it up, easing it away from the
plants with a sharp knife where necessary. If some paper
cannot be freed by this means, dampen it with a wet cloth,
or use a wetting agent, and peel the paper off as soon as it
loosens. If this is done quickly the specimen remains almost
perfectly dry and will not curl. This technique also applies
to various berries.

Fleshy plants. — ^Many fleshy plants dry very slowly, partly
because of a heavily cutinized epidermis but perhaps chiefly
because the water is colloidally bound within the cells.
Occasionally the delay merely calls for patience. We have
had specimens of some populations of Montia parvifolia in
the presses for a month with nearly constant heat yet the
specimens finally came out with excellent color retention.
Unfortunately the delayed drying is often more serious.
Portulaca may be pressed in flower and removed in mature
fruit with leaves shriveled, detached, blackened and some-
times moldly. Opuntia may produce etiolated shoots that
grow right out of the press and bear little resemblance to
the original specimen.

Large fleshy plants may sometimes be split and most of
the pulpy contents either left in place or removed. This
method has obvious limitations. It is too tedious to use on
small plant parts; and it would take both skill and fortitude
to split any great mmiber of Opuntia pads covered with
needle-sharp, barbed spines.

For many fleshy plants the key to the problem of drying
seems to lie in the fact that cells that firmly retain their con-
tained water in life lose it readily when they are killed. It
remains to find the most effective killing agent, one that is
cheap, readily available, does not discolor or otherwise
modify the specimen seriously, is not irritant, and preferably

23

leaves no residue on or in the specimen. No fully satisfactory
killing agent seems to have been found, althougji many have
been suggested. Limited trials at this institution, with Por-
tulaca oleracea as a test plant, suggest that a brief dip in
boiling water or dilute methyl or ethyl alcohol (25-50 per
cent) is about as effective as any more elaborate killing
agents. Prolonged boiling must be avoided, since it simply
causes soft tissues to disintegrate. For small-leaved plants a
dip of 5 to 30 seconds seems to be adequate. For large cacti,
etc., longer periods are needed to ensure adequate penetra-
tion, but large variations sometimes have little effect on the
quality of the specimen. If for killing a plant you use any
chemical that leaves a residue on or in the plant, include a
note to that effect on the label, for the treatment might affect
a biochemical test applied at a later date.

Barrel cacti and similar diiOficult subjects must be treated
differently. Slice off a superficial patch large enough to show
any pattern, for example, of spine arrangement, and cut a
thin transverse slice to show the form of the stem. Photo-
graphs of the whole plant are important. Although you will
wish to keep a few cactus flowers attached to show how
they are borne, most flowers should be detached and pressed
on separate sheets, some face down and some on their sides.
If they are pressed on the same sheet as the rest of the speci-
men the petals will usually wrinkle from inadequate pressure
and their drying may be delayed. By themselves, many cactus
flowers dry readily and retain their color well.

Spruce and hemlock. — Christmas-tree buyers as well as
botanists know all too well the way Picea and Tsuga shed
their needles once they start to dry. This shedding may be
prevented by killing the cells at the leaf base before abscis-
sion starts. Unfortunately all the killing methods that have
been suggested cause considerable browning of the foliage.
Chemical treatments to prevent the browning or to substitute
other green compounds for the natural green of the needles
have been suggested, some of them very elaborate and quite
impractical for use in the field. All chemical treatments have

24

some inherent drawbacks: they may change the appearance
of leaves or twigs sufficiently to suggest genetic differences;
they may interfere with the later application of chemical tests
for diagnostic or other purposes; and any foUage parasites
on them may be rendered useless as specimens.

Most collectors press these plants without treatment and
later put the loose needles into packets moxmted on the
sheets. This method does not make a pretty specimen, but
the twigs and needles are preserved with a minimum of
change and the specimen is satisfactory for taxonomic pur-
poses. An alternative that has been used with some success
at the Institute is to spread adhesive on the back of the fresh
specimen, lay it on a sheet of mounting paper, cover it with
wax paper (in case surplus adhesive should well up between
the needles) and press it in the ordinary way. The needles
separate from the stalk but are held in position on the sheet.
This simple method is very satisfactory on day trips, when
the specimens are processed in a well-equipped preparation
room; but it is unlikely to be popular on long trips, since it
involves taking along the paraphernaha for mounting and
means a tedious extra job at the end of the day's work. It is
somewhat less satisfactory for spruce, with its needles scat-
tered round the twigs, than for hemlock, with its two-ranked
needles; for some of the needles on the upper surface will
come loose unless an undesirable excess of adhesive is used.

Arctic and alpine collecting. — In arctic and alpine collect-
ing strong winds often make the use of the field press difi&-
cult. The individual plants of a species too, may be so widely
scattered that you may cover as much as a mile in securing
an adequate collection. Under these circumstances it is
impracticable to try to lay the specimens into the field press
in the orthodox manner. Fortunately few arctic-alpine plants
are so delicate that they must be handled with great care.
Most are stout, firm-leaved and protected by hairs. When
working under such conditions fill the specimen side of the
press with enough sheets to last the working period. As the
plants are collected slide them down into the folded sheets.

25

After a few sheets have been used it becomes hard to tell
at a glance which is the inside of the sheet and which the
gap between two sheets. Be sure, then, to number the sheets
consecutively before starting, putting the numbers inside and
in a standard position. This method has the added advantage
of making it easier to find the right sheet as you gradually
add to a collection of a widely scattered plant in the course
of a day. One soon remembers, for example, that
Arenaria rubella is on sheet 4, Cardamirte bellidifolia on
sheet 6 and Pedicularis flammea on sheet 1 1 .

When the wind is exceptionally strong it may be impos-
sible to use the field press at all. Take along some plastic
bags and drop the plants into them. Inevitably species
become mixed in the bags, which means tedious sorting later;
but this is better than wasting the day. The mixing can be
minimized if you put collections that can be completed at
a single colony into a paper bag (about 4-pound size), and
then put it into one of the plastic bags. Plants that cannot
easily be cleaned as they are dug should also be put in
individual paper bags to prevent soiling other plants. Use
individual paper bags also for fragile plants that
might become damaged if left loose in the main bag. Always
put rusted or smutted plants into individual bags, for mixing
of the spores can cause serious dijB&culty for the mycologist
who examines the specimens. If you use about four plastic
bags, say two in each pocket of your parka, and can remem-
ber always to put a species into the same bag, the work of
sorting will be greatly reduced.*

Pressing and Drying

General Principles

These two processes are discussed together because press-
ing techniques depend to some extent on the drying facilities
that are available.

Plants must be pressed firmly and continuously during
drying, or the leaves will wrinkle. For many generations

* See addendum 2.

26

botanists dried their plants without heat, depending upon a
daily changing of felts and papers for removal of moisture.
This method is so time-consuming that it seriously limits
the volume that can be handled, and it never yields really
good specimens except of the relatively small proportion of
plants that dry very readily.

Today neariy all botanists use heat in some form to speed
the drying process. To secure the best retention of color
with freedom from brittleness, dry the specimens rapidly but
with only gentle heat. The role of heat in the drying process
has not been fully appreciated, and some remarkable and
completely erroneous statements on its use have been made.
Too high a temperature in the press causes both browning
(incipient scorching) and brittleness. The term brittleness
itself has been used loosely. When specimens break up
readily it is sometimes due to inadequate pressure, which
causes wrinkling of the leaves. Such specimens break up from
the mere weight of other specimens filed on top of them.
A high or even moderate temperature may cause browning
through oxidation processes if there is inadequate air move-
ment to carry away the moisture that is withdrawn from the
specimens. Drying without heat causes a slow killing of the
plant cells and oxidational browning inevitably results. As
explained earlier in this chapter, during discussion of the
field press, a delay in the application of heat after the
plants have been pressed always causes browning, for drying
(and killing of the cells) starts as soon as the plants are
in the press. Discoloration due to slow drying affects the color
not only of leaves and flowers, but sometimes even of hairs.
In a recent monograph a distinguishing character of
Heuchera chlorantha was stated to be the brown hairs in
dried specimens; but in specimens dried by suitable methods
the only brown hairs are those on senescent leaves or those
where overlapping delayed drying.

Removing the water quickly and safely from the specimen
necessitates a steep water-vapor pressure gradient between
the specimen and the outside air. There are two ways to
steepen the gradient: decreasing the moisture content of the

27

outside air, and shortening the air path. The simplest and
most economical way to reduce the relative humidity of the
air is to warm it; but desiccation would be equally effective
and possibly more so. Cool, dry air might give good results
with plants that discolor very readily, and comparative tests
with such plants are desirable; but the cost of desiccating the
volume of air needed to dry large numbers of specimens
seems to make it quite impractical for general use. The
short air path is achieved by putting a layer of paper felt
on each side of the specimen and beyond the felt a sheet
of corrugated cardboard. Warm, dry air is kept moving
through the passages in the corrugated cardboard sheets or
ventilators.

The procedure outlined below is widely used at this insti-
tution; it yields good specimens and is economical of time
and labor.

Laying Out Specimens

Take the specimens individually from the field press (ex-
cept when, as described above, they have been laid out in the
field press as they are collected) and lay them out on a felt
in the open press in a clean sheet of newsprint. There is
little objection to laying out most tree and shrub specimens
in the paper from the field press, except that drying is slightly
delayed; but use of clean paper makes cleaner and often
much better specimens of herbaceous plants. As you take
the specimens from the field press, shake or wipe off any
residual dirt that is on them. When the field press has been
emptied, tip the dirt out of the papers and replace them in
it in readiness for the next day's collecting. Their being
slightly damp helps to keep the new collections fresh.

On the sheet into which the specimens are laid mark the
collection number and the name of the genus on the outside
at the lower left (hinge) comer; putting the marks at this
comer speeds sorting of the specimens later. When several
sheets are filled with a single collection put the number only
on the second and succeeding sheets; for when the specimens

28

are taken from the press these sheets are slipped mside the
first one. Other notes may be written on the sheet occa-
sionally. Thus, if the collection includes material of a para-
sitic fungus, "MYC" (for mycological) serves as a reminder
that this material is to be extracted when the plant is iden-
tified. Parasites are usually less conspicuous in the dried
than in the fresh specimen. Therefore, it is better to group
the parasitized plants on a single sheet marked as such; other-
wise it may be necessary to scrutinize the entire collection
under the dissecting microscope. If specimens of poison ivy
or any other plants that remain irritant after drying are
collected, be sure to put a suitable warning on the outside of
the sheet.

In laying out the specimens, avoid overlapping as much
as possible. If the panicles of two plants overlap in the press
it is sometimes impossible to separate them later without
breakage. When a single specimen fills a sheet be sure that
some leaves show the upper and some the lower surface,
for only one such plant will constitute the final herbarium
specimen. When it is practicable to do so, press some flowers
with the inside revealed. Plants that dry quickly, like most
grases and sedges, can be crowded closely together on the
sheet, for a little overlapping of the leaves and culms causes
no serious disfigurement. If they are a little more than half
the length of the sheet put them in two rows with the roots
at the top and bottom of the sheet and the inflorescences
alternating in the middle. Do not put the roots at the bottom
of every sheet or the press will soon become lopsided. If you
have ample press space but a poor source of heat for drying,
space the plants widely on the sheet.

Fold plants to somewhat less than the length of the sheet.
This presents no problem in slender plants with few or no
stem leaves and a compact inflorescence, but in those with
a large panicle or numerous large stem leaves it is hard
to make an attractive specimen that shows all the character-
istics of the plant clearly. If the plant is only slightly longer
than the sheet it is sometimes best to make the fold near
the base or to make a zigzag bend in the lower part of the

29

stem to bring the panicle down suflBciently (Figure 6A).
With tall, leafy plants, such as Lupinus or Delphinium, it is
often necessary to remove several leaves (with a stub of
petiole left to show their positions) in order to avoid serious
overiapping of the leaves when the plant is folded.

Figure 6. — A. Plonf wHh large panicle, prepared for prentng with zigzag fold.
B. Use of papers on sedge to keep folded parts In position for preulng.

Soft-Stemmed plants usually fold easily and remain in posi-
tion after folding. Some plants have brittle stems that tend
to break at the fold. This difficulty can often be obviated by
bruising about half an inch of the stem at the place where
you plan to fold it, using any hard rounded object. Very
dry stems are sometimes best treated by wetting and soften-
ing then gently between the front teeth. Unless the plants
are very large try to avoid cutting them into sections, for if
several plants go on a sheet there will often be doubt as to

30

which top goes with a particular base. Wiry plants, par-
ticularly those with linear leaves such as grasses and sedges,
do not usually stay folded. Such specimens are greatly
improved in appearance by being 'papered'; in this process
you take pieces of paper roughly 2ixH inches, with a slit
about i to 1 inch long cut or torn down the middle, and slip
them over the folded part to keep the culm and leaves
neatly together (Figure 6B). Do not remove the papers
until just before you mount the specimens. Grasses or sedges
only slightly longer than the sheet are occasionally laid in
diagonally to avoid folding. There are several objections to
this practice. It limits the amount that can be put on a sheet
even if two clumps are crossed (which may mark the plants
seriously); if the plants shift in the papers after pressing
they will project and be damaged; and the specimens must
be mounted diagonally, which causes a bulge in the middle
of a stack of specimens if many are so mounted.*

Some ingenuity is needed to make presentable specimens
of certain plants. In many species of Viola, for example, the
cordate leaves curl up very readily; and, as a result, the
basal lobes may all be folded over the body of the leaf in
the press. Not only is the resulting specimen unsightly but
it is unsatisfactory because the true leaf shape is not clearly
shown. When 10 to 20 small plants are packed on a sheet
it is scarcely possible to be sure of pressing all the leaves
flat, but a reasonable proportion can be assured. The best
method seems to be to start by laying out plants adjacent
to the hinge and fold the sheet over them before removing
the fingers. By gradually working across to the open side of
the sheet and keeping pressure with the arm or some felts
and ventilators on the completed part, you can be sure that
some leaves, at least, of each plant will be flat. The job is
easier to do with an assistant.

Although old newspaper, carefully folded in the half
sheet, is satisfactory for small-scale collecting, machine-cut
and -folded unbleached newsprint, done up in packets of
250 or 500 sheets, is better for extensive collecting. This
paper is easy to handle; packs into a much smaller space

* See addendum 3. ^*

than old newspaper; is somewhat more absorptive; is easier
to mark with the necessary data; and, as many botanists
have ruefully declared, saves all the time that would other-
wise be spent in reading old advertisements. Furthermore,
when many duplicates are to be collected on a long field
trip, the time needed to collect, cut and refold the necessary
amount of newspaper becomes grossly uneconomical. In less
than four months one of our field parties, aiming at securiing
at least twenty duplicates of all species in the area under
study, used well over 12,000 sheets of newsprint.

The Press

Make up the press from its various components, as shown
in Figure 7. Lay the press frame on the bench or other
available working surface and put a ventilator and a felt on
it. Then add the first specimen in its folded newsprint.
Continue this sequence of specimen — ^felt — ventilator — ^felt
— specimen to the top of the press, ending with a ventilator
and press frame, and close it with two straps. The press
frames, ventilators and felts are all 18X12 inches. This size
is just enough larger than the size of the sheets of newsprint
to make it simple to ensure that the newsprint and its
specimens will not project.

Frames. — The frames are made of slats, about IX^ inch
(dressed) of ash or some other tough and springy wood.
(Any wood suitable for ax and hammer handles is satis-
factory for the frames. ) The frame is made up of five longi-
tudinal and seven transverse slats. All the outer joints and
some of the inner ones are fastened with heavy copper
harness rivets and washers. Some of the inner joints, how-
ever, are fastened with two brass brads, set diagonally,
driven through, and clinched; this practice ensures that the
frame remains rectangular.

Ventilators. — The ventilators, of double-covered corru-
gated cardboard, are cut so that the folds run across the
press. The air spaces gradually become constricted with use.
Badly flattened ventilators should not be used in the presses,

32

Ventilator

Specimen
in paper

Rgure 7. — ^The press. A. Exploded view, showing arrangement of parts.
B. Detail of frame, to show construction. C. Assembled press, showing position

of strops.

but some of the discards should be kept for use in the field
presses and for packing specimens for shipping. Corrugated
cardboard covered on one side only is occasionally recom-
mended for ventilators, on the belief that it gives faster
drying. However, the gain is slight, and it is more than offset
by the flexibility and rapid collapse of this type of ventilator.
Moreover, the pattern of the corrugations may show on the
leaves of the specimen unless the felt is thick and firm. This
same disadvantage holds for the corrugated aluminum ven-
tilators that are sometimes recommended for collecting in
humid tropical regions where cardboard ventilators soon
disintegrate.

33

Felts, — ^The felts are cut from the paper felt that is used
under linoleum on floors. This material comes in rolls 36
inches wide, which allows cutting with no waste. Felts and
ventilators may be cut to size by hand if only a few are
needed by the amateur collector; but if many are needed
they should be cut by machine, because slight irregularities
in size result in rapid damage to the edges. If you have
trouble buying cut felts from the manufacturer, buy a roll
and have it cut up on the bench shears in a sheet metal shop.
Very thin felts give inadequate padding to the specimen.
The material should be fairly thick and moderately soft.
If it is extremely hard it will not give enough pressure on
leaves close to thick stems. If it is very soft is soon goes
fuzzy at the edges and tends to close the openings in the
ventilators.

Straps. — ^The straps should be of heavy webbing about 6
feet long and li inches wide. Longer straps are sometimes
useful for very large presses, but usually they leave a lot
of loose end to be tucked in. Wider straps are often too
stiff to grip well in the buckle, and narrow ones are short-
lived. Thin straps, such as are often used with car-top
carrers, grip well but wear out very quickly. The slide buckles
of webbing straps often tend to slip after long service. If
this occurs do not sharpen the prongs, but use a small flat
file to resharpen the bar on the back of the slide, which
presses into the back of the strap. This bar becomes rounded
with use and should be recut to a 90 degree angle. If in
doubt, compare it with the bar of a new buckle.

Emergency presses. — In an emergency you can make quite
serviceable, but heavy, press frames by using any boards of
uniform thickness. Be sure to clinch the nails through the
cross pieces. In place of straps take lengths of i-inch rope,
put an eye splice in one end and whip the othet end. Put
the ropes round the press with the eyes pointing up, in the
position normally ocupied by the buckles. Thread the free
end through the eye; haul up until tight; and fasten by
pinching the rope at the eye with one hand while pushing

34

a loop of the free part under the taut rope and back
through its slack bight, and finally pulling this loop tight.
PuUing out this slip half hitch instantly releases the rope.

Tightening the press. — ^When a press has been made up
with specimens, preferably to a height of 12 to 18 inches,
fit two webbing straps around it between the second and
third transverse slats from the end of the frame. True up
the felts and cardboards as well as possible and tighten
the straps a little. Complete the truing by turning the press
on its side and end and pressing the components fiirmly
against the floor. If felts or ventilators project from a
tightened press they will be crushed and air will not move
through the press. After truing, finish the tightening by
sitting on the press and hauling up alternately on the straps
until no further movement can be obtained. The buckle side
of the press tends to tighten most thoroughly because of the
friction of the straps over the frames. To equalize presure,
press down on the edge of the upper frame away from the
buckles, after the straps have been pulled moderately tight;
then complete the tightening. Now pinch the buckles tight,
run the straps through the lower loops of the buckles, and
tuck the ends of the straps between the slats of the frame.
The press is now ready to be put on or in the drier. In some
8 to 12 hours, however, it must be removed and the straps
retightened to take up the slack that results from the increas-
ing flaccidity of the specimens. If this retightening is omitted
some wrinkling of leaves usually occurs, and this means that
specimens may break up in future handling.

Presses more than about 18 inches deep are very awkward
to handle when they are tightened. A press much under 12
inches deep lacks the resilience necessary to maintain ade-
quate pressure, so we aim at a press that will tighten down
to about 15 inches. If only a few plants are to be pressed,
make up the press to normal height with extra felts and
ventilators.

35

Driers

Driers may be classed as installed, portable, or emergency
types.

Installed driers. — In the laboratory a permanently installed
cabinet drier is desirable for reasons of safety and economy
of floor space, and to minimize heating of the room in which
it is placed. We prefer a cabinet about 6 feet 6 inches high,
4 feet long, and 20 inches deep, inside, as shown diagram-
matically in Figure 8. This drier has four shelves at 15-inch
spacing and holds 12 average-sized presses. The cabinet has
a frame of angle iron in the comers and horizontally for
shelf supports. The walls and doors are of double sheet
steel interlined with asbestos sheeting and painted with alu-
minium paint to increase internal heat reflection. The shelves
are of heavy-gauge galvanized screen of 1-inch mesh. K it
is expected that specimens not in presses, such as fleshy
fungi, will be dried in the cabinet, finer screening of about
j%-inch mesh should be laid over the coarse mesh to prevent
any specimens from falling through. Such a fine screen
should in any event be placed on the bottom shelf to
minimize the risk of objects falling on to the heat lamps.
The source of heat is six 150- watt reflector-type bulbs
mounted in heavy-duty sockets on the floor of the drier.
They are wired in pairs or threes, so that if only a few
specimens are to be dried in hot weather only the bulbs at
one end need be turned on. Air inlet holes about 2 inches
in diameter are spaced around the cabinet walls as close as
possible to the floor. An exhaust fan draws air from a duct
in the center of the top of the cabinet. The fan should have
sufficient capacity to allow air movement through the
cabinet of at least 2 feet per second. The exact size needed
will depend on the length, size and number of bends in the
exhaust duct. The manufacturers of such fans supply tables
for the calculation of their performance under varying con-
ditions. The fan may be ducted to the outside through a wall
or a section of window, and the exhaust should open on the
side of the building away from the prevailing wind. If

36

Figure 8. — Installed drying cabinet. Broken lines show position of frame made
of 1-inch angle iron. Shelves are 15^ inches apart, giving 14^ inch clearance

between supports.

37

exhaust ducts are incorporated in the building they may, of
course, be used, provided that the flow rate through them
is adequate. The fan should be wired to the master switch
of the drier, to ensure that it will always be running when
the heat lamps are turned on.

The presses are stacked in the drier with their length
from back to front of the cabinet and with the corrugations
of the ventilators vertical. When the drier holds less than a
full row of presses they may be pushed to one end, felts or
ventilators placed on the unused part of the shelf, and the
lamps at the unused end turned off. By this means efficient
drying is achieved with the minimum heating of the room.

Portable driers. — The portable drier shown diagram-
matically in Figure 9 is about 4 feet long. The inside width
of 18i inches is a slack fit for presses placed with their
length across the drier, allowing for shght irregularities in
the alignment of the press components. The drier frame
consists of six panels of i-inch plywood. The four side
panels bear battens I inch wide, attached 1 inch below the
top to support the presses. Air inlet spaces are provided
either by cutting several large holes near the base of each
panel, or preferably by cutting away the base of each panel
for a height of about 1 inch to within about 3 inches of each
end. The panels are held together by large hinges of the
draw-pin type in which the pins are replaced by loosely
fitting common nails. The nails are easily inserted and
removed, allowing very rapid erection and dismantling. The
nails of the upper center hinge on each side are replaced
by a wire spacer with the ends bent down and the points
tapered for easy insertion into the hinges. It is advisable
to make the spacer slightly more than the estimated length,
then try presses in position and, if they tend to slip down,
shorten the wire slightly by twisting a jog into it with pliers.
Adjacent sides of adjoining panels are marked in paint with
the same number to guarantee that the hinges will mate
when the frame is erected. However, the positions of the
hinges should correspond closely, as the drier can then be

38

Wire spacer

Hinges fastened with flathead bolts, nuts inside.
Hinge pins replaced by loose-fitting nails.

Figure 9. — Portable drier, of J-inch plywood.

used at half length, with two side panels left out. You can
expedite the interchangeabiUty by filing the hinges to a slack
fit — not a practice favored by good mechanics but quite
justifiable in this instance. In crowded tents and with small
plants and a limited flora — common circumstances in the
arctic, for example — the shortened drier is a decided advan-
tage. Heat is normally supplied by four 150-watt light bulbs
with reflector bases, mounted in pairs on wood blocks about
15 inches long. One block carries a plug on a foot or so of
heavy-duty rubber-covered wire. The other block carries an
outlet on one end to connect with the first board and a plug
on about 10 feet of wire on the other end. Also carried is
an extension cord about 20 feet long in case no wall outlets
are adjacent. Strip heater elements may replace the lamps
if suitable ones are available.

For transportation the six panels are held together with
a webbing strap in a single bundle. The light sockets, exten-
sion, wire spacer, and can of nails go in one box. The light
bulbs (with spares) go in a separate box with appropriate
packing.

39

The height shown for the drier frame is a little more than
is considered essential for reasonably even distribution of
heat from light bulbs close to the floor; but it allows for
possibly greater height of some sources of heat.

If electric power is not available the best substitute is
unquestionably the kerosene stable lantern or hurricane lan-
tern. The smaller types, standing about 10 to 12 inches high,
are most suitable. One such lantern is approximately equiv-
alent to a 150-watt lamp. If the wick is trimmed flat with
a small amount cut off each comer, such a lantern will
bum steadily for 24 hours or slightly over. It is necessary
to check the height of the flame shortly after the lantem
is lit, as the flame tends to rise and smoke when the lantem
warms up; but afterwards it needs no attention. Pressure
lamps, either gasoline or kerosene, are practically useless
for drying plants. They bum with a dangerously intense
flame for a short time, and have scorched many specimens.
They are also a serious fire hazard.*

We have also used a drier frame similar to the one
described but made of sheet aluminum, with aluminum alloy
angle strips riveted on to support the presses. This modifica-
tion saves a little weight and bulk, making it somewhat
preferable when you are traveling in light aircraft. The
comers of the sheets are somewhat of a menace to tents
and other fabrics, and should be smoothly rounded. The
aluminum sheets also become battered easily with constant
handling, and are not recommended for road trips where
you expect to load and unload almost every day.

The plywood drier panels will gradually splinter with
rough use. To reduce this minor hazard, paint the edges
with shellac or varnish each year before starting out into
the field.

This type of portable drier will hold three large presses.
Any surplus space beyond the ends of the presses should be
blocked off with ventilator cardboards, in order to direct
the heat through the presses. Any small gaps at the comers
or between presses may be conventiently chinked with socks

* See addendum 4.

40

that need drying. Socks, or anything else that needs drying,
can also be put on the floor between the lamps. As with the
laboratory drier, the presses should be removed and re-
tightened after 8 to 12 hours, at which time they may also
be turned upside down to equalize the drying of the con-
tents. If necessary, a second layer of presses is put on top
of the first row. This practice does not seriously delay the
drying rate of the lower presses, but makes drying in the
upper row rather slow. The relative positions of the presses
are changed when they are removed for retightening.

Emergency driers. — If weight limitations prohibit the
carrying of a drier and the necessary fuel, various makeshifts
may be adopted. Very few places where you may stay are
completely without sources of heat. A space heater, drum
heater, the shelf over a kitchen range, the radiator of a
diesel generator, a hot-water tank, and the boilers of central
heating plants and laundries have all been used to house
presses. You must be careful that the heat from a drum or
space heater is not too intense, but the other sources are
generally quite safe, although not always fully adequate.

If no heat at all is available the presses can be stood in
the sun and wind, in suitable weather. However, unless you
have nearly continuous, adequate heat, you must cut down
on the number of duplicates to be taken, space the specimens
more widely than usual on the sheets, and change the felts
daily. Even with these precautions the quality of the speci-
mens will generally suffer at least slightly; and some plants,
such as Castilleja, will blacken seriously. It is not good prac-
tice to attempt preliminary preservation of plants by
immersing them in formalin solution. FormaUn gradually
destroys natural colors, reducing all tissues to brownish
gray or black. Liquid preservation of small selected
parts of plants is necessary for material intended for
anatomical or cytological study; but Uquid preservation of
whole specimens is tolerable only for algae, and then only
under certain circumstances (see Chapter 5). Cytological

41

and anatomical material should be preserved according to
the instructions of the person who will eventually study it;
different working techniques may require different fixing
solutions, plant parts and developmental stages.

Packing and Shipping Dried Specimens

Specimens that are dried in the laboratory are generally
sorted at once into folders, for identification and labeling.
Specimens dried in the field must be packed securely for
shipment. Cartons such as those used for cans of condensed
milk are a convenient size for holding specimens, being a
trafle larger in area than the folded newsprint. A good pro-
cedure is as follows. When a pile of specimens . becomes
about 6 inches high place a corrugated cardboard (a battered
ventilator will do) on a table and true up the stack of
specimens on it. If there are small specimens or conifers
with loose needles in any of the sheets, wrap them in news-
print before bundhng. To prevent the possibility of plants
slipping out put duplicate sheets with their open sides into
the hinge side of the master sheet. Then put a second card-
board on top of the stack. Cut a length of cord or of cotton
tape long enough to go once lengthways and twice side-
ways round the stack and tie a loop in one end. Now loop
the string sideways round the bundle towards one end, pull
it tight and cinch it with a half knot; loop lengthwise, but,
without completing this loop, hold the cord down and make
a lateral loop; tighten this loop round the cord where it is
held and cinch again; finally, complete the longitudinal loop
by drawing the junctions of the two lateral loops toward
each other and fastening with several half knots.

Such a bundle holds the specimens firmly enough to
prevent them from shding against each other or slipping
out of the papers. Ship bundles in cartons if there is a reason-
able certainty that they will not be exposed to moisture.
Otherwise, cover them with extra wrapping or ship them in

42

suitable plywood boxes. We use field boxes of i-inch ply-
wood with outside cleats and screw-down lids; inside dimen-
sions are 18Xl2iX20 inches. These boxes are ideal both
for shipping suppHes into the field and for shipping speci-
mens back. We pack the bundles of specimens flat and fill
the small space left at the end of the box with folded card-
board or miscellaneous small items.*

Processing Dried Specimens

Preparing Labels

When the collections have been identified the plants may
be laid out for mounting. As soon as it is seen how many
duplicates there are, the final labels may be made (Figure
2). In the Institute, if there are only a few duplicates the
labels are typed individually; but if there are many the
duplicate labels are printed from stencils. A stencil will
hold six labels. The master labels are therefore sorted into
groups of six for which nearly the same number of copies
are needed. A stencil is cut for each group of labels and
enough sheets are run off to provide for the largest group.
The printed sheets are cut up and the labels returned to
the herbarium. The duplicates are now ready to be sent
out in exchange and the master sheet is mounted and inserted
in the herbarium. If you expect much delay in getting the
labels printed, it is a good idea to postpone laying out the
specimens; estimate the number of labels needed and send
the master labels for duplication as soon as the collections
are identified.

Laying Out for Mounting

Although it is desirable to have a liberal amount of
material on the sheet, the sheet must not be crowded. There
must be space for the label, perhaps also for a field label.
As the years go by, a succession of specialists may examine
the sheet and each may attach a small annotation label.

* See addendum 5.

43

Although annotation labels are generally attached by one
edge only, they should not overlap the specimen. Further-
more, someone may sooner or later remove flowers for boil-
ing and dissection, or dig seeds out of a capsule. This
material is put in a packet attached to the sheet, so that the
next examiner will not have to mutilate the specimen further.
In, for example, Iso'etes, microscopic mounts are needed for
identification; and these preparations may usefully be ringed
and attached to the sheet in packets. The specimen then,
should not occupy more than about three quarters of the
sheet. When the plants are very small it is neither necessary
nor desirable to pack a very large number on the sheets. Put
enough on each sheet to show the variation in size and other
characters and to provide ample flowers and fruit. If you
overload exchange sheets the mounter at the receiving insti-
tution may simply mount what he considers adequate and
throw out the rest. Rather than risk such waste make extra
duplicates.

Lay out the master sheet directly on herbarium mounting
paper. Lay out the duplicates on sheets of newsprint or
other Ught paper, which is bought cut to size in unfolded
sheets when the volume of exchange is great. As a check
against the mixing of labels, write the collection number on
each sheet.

When you consider the cost of materials, field travel,
salaries, and other incidentals, the actual value of fully pro-
cessed specimens is often more than a dollar per sheet; if
there has been much travel by chartered airplane, the cost
can be much more. The careful laying out of duplicates
to avoid waste is therefore a matter of economic as well as
scientific importance.

Mounting

Except for occasional minute plants, which may better
be placed in packets, stick specimens to mounting paper
and then reinforce them with strips of linen tape or, prefer-
ably, by the plastic strip method. The following materials
are needed.

44

Mounting paper. — The standard size is 16i by Hi
inches. A good quality paper that will not become brittle
with age is essential. The weight should be fairly heavy, to
reduce flexing when mounted specimens are picked up. A
mat-surfaced paper provides better adhesion than a smooth
paper.

Mounting board. — A piece of plate glass, sheet aluminum,
arborite or other inert and water-resistant material about
24 by 18 inches is required. The surface must be smooth and
easily cleaned.

Adhesive. — A neutral, opaque library paste has been found
satisfactory. A neutral adhesive minimizes the change in
flower colors, the pigments of which are often indicators. It
is difiicult to prevent mold growth on neutral pastes; con-
sequently most commercial pastes are strongly acidic. Vari-
ous pastes and mucilages may be used provided that they
do not become brittle with age and can be easily cleaned
from the mounting board. The paste should be freely mis-
cible with water, since it is necessary to dilute it occas-
ionally on the board, especially when the air is dry and it
may quickly become very stiff.

Brushes. — An inexpensive H-inch paint brush is ideal for
applying adhesive to the mounting board. A fairly large
artists' brush is useful for applying glue to individual leaves
that are too flexuous to place in the film on the mounting
board.

Forceps. — Forceps with spatulate tips, such as stamp col-
lectors use, are excellent for picking up specimens. The type
with offset tips is particularly useful for applying gummed
linen strips.

Gummed linen tape. — Gummed Unen tape of the type
used for repairing books is cut into strips about i inch wide
with the warp running lengthwise. The tape should be pli-
able and have good adhesive properties.

45

Plastic stripping. — The method used at the Institute is
that described by Archer (Rhodora 52:298. 1950). The
plastic is made of the following ingredients:

Ethylcellulose (ethocel) standard 7 cps 250 g.

Dow resin 276 V-2 75 g.

Methanol 200 cc.

Toluene 800 cc.

The plastic is dispensed from a trigger type of oil can
with a small nozzle. The nozzle should be provided with a
cap with a pin in the center, which should be replaced when
work is stopped for any great length of time. Copper or
copper alloy (brass or bronze) cans or internal parts should
be avoided, since their use discolors the plastic*

Mounting procedure. — Moisten the brush and mounting
board with water and apply a thin coating of paste to the
board. The best thickness of the layer of paste depends
upon the coarseness of the specimens to be mounted. The
size of the patch will naturally depend upon the size of
the specimens. Place the specimen on the paste and gently
tamp it down to make sure that the lower surface is well
coated. Then carefully pick up the specimen. Peel the leaf
surfaces away from the paste slowly, to avoid breaking, and
drop the specimen gently on the mounting paper in the
desired position.^ Delicate specimens need a thinner mixture
of paste than coarse ones. Special techniques for specimens
that are hard to handle will soon be developed through practice.
If any pasted leaves tend to droop, a slight upward flip just
before the specimen is lowered into place will ensure that the
leaves land fully extended. Leaves that do come down some-
what buckled can be extended by running the forceps under
them. Keep a glass of water handy for cleaning off the forceps
and diluting the paste. Some grasses and sedges droop too
much to be handled by flipping. In handling such plants let
them hang vertically and bring the paper slowly into contact.
With very flaccid specimens, such as the linear-leaved species

* See addendum 6. t See addendum 7.

46

of Potamogeton, spread a layer of thinned paste on one sur-
face and lower the mounting paper on top of them. When the
sheet is lifted the specimen will come with it.

The specimen should be located carefully on the sheet,
preferably so that it does not come within an inch of the
edge at any point. EK) not mount solitary small specimens
or packeted specimens in the center of the sheet, since, if
several accumulate in one folder, there will be a bulge at this
point, space may be wasted and specimens may be damaged.
Practice a rotation in mounting such specimens; for exam-
ple, start at upper left, then place in upper right, middle
left, middle right, lower left, lower right. Although it is
generally better to have the base of the plant toward the
bottom of the sheet, the position should be varied in plants
that have very thick bases, to ensure that the sheets stack
evenly and occupy the minimum of shelf space.

K your own technician does the mounting he can be
trained to keep most of the inflorescence out of the paste
and to attach it carefully with plastic stripping. However,
this method is seldom practicable with specimens sent out
to relatively unskilled contract mounters.

Fragments of specimens, very small plants, seeds, and
extra flowers or fruits may be placed in packets and pasted
to a convenient part of the sheet.*

The label is preferably attached to the lower right comer
of the sheet. Paste it by a narrow strip along the top edge
or, if the specimen is so large that there is insufficient space
for the label, attach it by the right-hand edge and allow it
to overlap the specimen. Do not paste down the whole label
as this generally makes the corner of the sheet curl.^

After the specimen has been pasted down and the label
attached, cover the sheet with a piece of wax paper, then
with a felt, a heavy cardboard and any convenient weight.
Additional specimens, each covered by wax paper and felt,
may be stacked under the cardboard and weight. The speci-
mens should be left to dry under the weight for several hours
or preferably overnight.

* See addendum 8. t See addendum 9. ^_

47

After they are dry, remove the specimens from between
the wax paper and fehs and reinforce them at various
points to ensure that the paste does not give way with flexing
of the sheet. Use either Hnen tape or plastic stripping and
reinforce the stem every 3 inches or so. Reinforce large
leaves near the tip and, if wide, on the sides. Also reinforce
large inflorescences at several points. Try not to conceal
areas of possible diagnostic value. Stem reinforcements
should be in the middle of an intemode. If tape is used do
not cover the actual tip of the leaf. In reinforcing the inflo-
rescence try to ensure that a particular structure is not
covered repeatedly.

If tape is used, see that the strip extends about half an
inch beyond the part to be covered. Moisten the tape and
hold it down firmly with bent forceps. If the fingers are used
it is almost impossible to avoid the occasional grimy mark
on the sheet. Long tapes covering broad masses of grass
leaves and stems give almost no support and should be
avoided whenever possible. Never use cellulose tape or
surgical tape for reinforcement. The adhesives in these
materials ooze out at the edges of the strip, picking up dirt
and disfiguring the specimen. Cellulose tape also becomes
yellow and brittle with age.

For neatness, strength and speed of application, plastic
reinforcement is better than hnen tape. Being fully trans-
parent it does not conceal details such as leaf teeth. If a
specimen reinforced with this material is put under strain
the paper tears before the plastic breaks. With a httle
practice you can apply it from the oil can very quickly and
neatly. Apply a strip of plastic across the stem or other part
and anchor it to the sheet on each side. With large leaves
put a circular blob here and there, half over the edge. A
blob squirted into a mass of fibrous roots will anchor them
more firmly and much more neatly than a long linen strip.*

Occasionally it is necessary to sew a very coarse stem,
a cone, a heavy piece of bark or some other large specimen
to the sheet. Heavy linen thread should be used. Pass it

* See addendum 10.

48

twice or more over the specimen and knot it on the back
of the sheet. With some objects, such as large pieces of bark
or Opuntia pads, you may have to drill pairs of small holes
through which to pass the thread. Use strips of gummed
paper to cover the threads on the back of the sheet and so
prevent damage to the specimen immediately below.

Herbarium Packets

Packets of the style shown in Figure 10 are used at the
Institute in the following sizes (inches): HXi> 3Xli>
4X2, 5X3, 5ix4^, 9iX3i. This selection covers the
requirements for mosses, lichens and fungi as well as for
vascular plants. This style of packet was adopted mainly
because it is easily made by machine. If they are purchased
in large lots, such packets are much more economical than
hand-folded ones. The bottom flap is cut so that it almost
exactly fits inside the folds of the other three. It is folded in
first; then the side flaps are folded across and finally the
top flap is folded down. The weight of specimens on top will

Figure 10. — Pattern of machine-made herbarium paclcet.

49

keep the packet tightly closed. Exceptionally small seeds,
which might sift out through the folds, may be put in a
small packet within a larger one, but all normal-sized objects
will be kept securely in a single packet.

Herbarium Sequence

The operation of the phanerogamic herbarium of the
Plant Research Institute may serve as an example of her-
barium management. The size, rate of growth and other
circumstances of a herbarium will govern the details of
some practices. This herbarium currently holds more than
a third of a million sheets and is growing at approximately
20,000 sheets a year. The collection is predominantly
Canadian; but there is a good representation of the European
flora and that of the northern United States, and a smaller
representation of other parts of the world. The geographic
bias governs the sequence of specimens within each species.

The main sequence used for the herbarium is that of Dalla
Torre and Harms (Genera Siphonogamarum ad Systema
Englerianum Conscripta, Lipsiae. 1900-1907). The ferns
and fern allies are filed in the order of Copeland (Genera
Filicum, Chronica Botanica, 1947); and the grasses follow
the sequence of Pilger (Das System der Gramineae, Bot.
Jahrb. 76: 281-384. 1954). Within the genus the species are
generally arranged alphabetically; but some large, complex
and abundantly represented genera are arranged by sub-
genera and sections. Thus Car ex follows the sequence of
Mackenzie (North American Flora 18: 1-478. 1931-35).
Subspecies, varieties and forms are filed alphabetically after
the typical phase. The use of an approximately natural
sequence has the considerable advantage of keeping related
plants close together. On the wall of each room of the
herbarium an index gives the families in alphabetical
sequence and the number of each in the Dalla Torre and
Harms sequence, enabling a family unfamiliar to an enquirer
to be located without delay. For large families the arrange-
ment by genera is recorded on a table in the first case that

50

houses it; and a similar table is inserted at the beginning of
any large genus that is in a nonalphabetical sequence.

Within each species or smaller taxon the specimens are
separated geographically, the primary division employing
distinctively colored folders. Canadian specimens are filed
in manila folders. Specimens from the continental United
States follow in salmon folders; and these, in turn, are
followed by Mexico, Central America, South America,
West Indies, Bermuda and Bahamas (yellow) ; Europe, Asia,
Africa, Australia and Oceania (blue); and cultivated plants
from any area (green). For phytogeographic reasons Green-
land and Alaska specimens are filed in the Canadian
sequence, in which the order is by territories and provinces
from east to west across the north and east to west across
the south, thus: Greenland, Franklin, Keewatin, MacKenzie,
Yukon, Alaska, Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ottawa
District (Quebec), Ottawa District (Ontario), Ontario,
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia. Occa-
sionally a part of some province may be segregated if it has
been intensively studied. The folders are marked in ink on
the lower left comer with the genus number, name of the
plant, and geographic division.

Herbarium Cases

The specimens are housed in steel cases very similar to
those used in the National Mycological Herbarium and
described in Chapter 2. The principal difference is that the
case is 7 feet 6 inches high rather than 6 feet 7 inches. It
has 16 shelves on each side with a spacing of 5i inches,
and the top shelf is approximately 7 feet from the floor.
The higher case is slightly less convenient to use, and the
doors are a little harder to close smoothly. It has the advan-
tage of leaving less waste space above the cases.

Full utilization of space in a herbarium is always a
problem, for the normal office or laboratory ceiling height
cannot be utilized without resorting to step ladders, which

51

clutter the aisles and reduce working speed. Ideally the
herbarium units should be built like library stack rooms with
a smaller ceihng height than that of the surrounding ofl&ces;
but not every architect can handle the problems involved,
and such designs are not often seen. Apart from space
utilization, floor to ceiling cases have two advantages: they
reduce the space in which dust or litter can accumulate; and,
by restricting convectional circulation, they greatly reduce
the chance of a fire becoming strongly estabhshed.*

Protection from Insects

Any large, active and rapidly growing herbarium is occa-
sionally bound to suffer from infestations of dermestid beetles.
If the building and cases are of suitable design and accom-
modation is ample, a few simple precautions rigorously
followed will prevent any appreciable damage. Unfortunately
these conditions all too often cannot be met. The herbarium
staff does not necessarily have control over the building
plans, cases may be far from perfect, and. in particular,
accommodation is often seriously inadequate for prolonged
periods.

Provided that the conditions listed above are met, the
following precautions will minimize damage. ( 1 ) The whole
herbarium should be in insect-proof cases. Each staff member
should have one or more cases in his room to house speci-
mens on which he is working at the moment, and all speci-
mens should be returned to these cases at night. (2) Unless
the herbarium, or the whole building in which it is housed,
can be conveniently and economically fumigated with, for
example, methyl bromide, and is so fumigated about once a
year, all cases should contain a volatile insecticide such as
naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene.^ The problem of build-
ing fumigation is further discussed in Chapter 2. (3) All in-
coming specimens, whether from other institutions or from the
field, must be opened promptly on arrival, checked for dryness
and put in the drier if necessary, and then put directly into

* See addendum 11. t See addendum 12.

52

regular herbarium cases that contain abundant naphthalene or
paradichlorobenzene. The alternative is to have a fumigating
chamber, with a properly designed exhaust system, in which
boxes of specimens can be fumigated with methyl bromide, but
this is a tedious undertaking when many large collections are
coming in. (4) All cases must be kept tightly shut when not
actually in use. (Having plenty of naphthalene in the cases
makes this regulation much easier to enforce.) (5) The her-
barium, preparation rooms, supply rooms, etc., must be kept
uncluttered, so that thorough cleaning can be carried out,
particularly of odd corners of the floor. Cartons of unworked
specimens stacked on the floor are an invitation to trouble. All
litter may house beetles, and the greater the insect population
the smaller the probability of a perfect kill in a fumigation. It is
a regrettable fact that a theoretically perfect fumigation, which
kills all test insects set about the herbarium, often does not give
a complete kill of the infesting beetles. In some instances a few
probably survive behind baseboards of outside walls where
the gas concentration is low. The herbarium and associated
rooms should be designed to eliminate baseboards, and to
have no crevices between wall and floor, in the manner
generally followed in hospitals.

Unquestionably the best protection currently available is
to keep all cases (those in offices and those for new collec-
tions or exchange as well as those in the regular herbarium)
stocked with plenty of naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene.
Methods of using these materials are discussed in Chapter 2.
The sudden introduction of these chemicals into a herbarium
that has not been using them will probably be met with
vigorous protests from some of the staff. However, it is
remarkable how one quickly gets used to the smell and
eventually fails to notice it except when it is in great
concentration.

Under crowded conditions, with specimens stacked every-
where in boxes, the parts of the above routine that can be
followed will not be fully effective, and regular building
fumigations will be necessary.

53

Loan and Exchange

In an active herbarium the volume of specimens sent out
and received on loan and exchange requires that a regular
system be adopted both for the mechanics of handling and
for the maintenance of records.

Records. — At the Plant Research Institute a file is kept
for each exchange institution. This file contains correspon-
dence, loan and exchange forms, and a ledger sheet on which
the balance can be read at a glance (see also final section
of Chapter 2).

A triplicate form is used for recording the details of each
shipment of loan or exchange specimens. It has spaces for
the name and address of the recipient; the number of speci-
mens and whether sent as loan, gift, exchange or return of
loan; number of packages and method of transmission;
special notes; signature of transmitting curator; statement of
exchange balance; signature of recipient; and return address.
The original (white) and first carbon (yellow) are sent to
the recipient. A note on the forms, which are all identical
in content, specifies that the yellow copy is to be signed
and returned as a receipt. The second carbon (pink) is kept
as a file record. When the specimens are returned, the
curator may sign and date both yellow and pink copies,
and send the pink one to the borrower in cancellation of
the loan; but the method of marking completion of the loan
is a matter of choice and some institutions make no further
use of the pink copy. These instructions sound complicated,
but their practice soon becomes routine and they save much
correspondence. However, the procedure should be out-
lined in a conspicuous place, such as the front of the con-
tainer in which the current supply of forms is kept, in case
an inexperienced person should have to handle any loans
in the absence of the curator.

Handling specimens. — The method has already been
described by which the specimens are laid out on individual
sheets of paper after identification, in order to determine the

54

number of labels to be made. Because of the inevitable delay
between laying out and the return of the duplicated labels,
some regular routine must be adopted for keeping track of
the duplicates. When up to 20,000 duplicate sheets, repre-
senting possibly 5,000 collections, are sent out in a year,
the need for some system is obvious. The duplicates are gen-
erally kept in taxonomic sequence because the specimens are
sorted into such a sequence when they come from the field.
Very small collections may be integrated, but generally one
field party's duplicates are kept as a unit. If a batch of
duplicated labels is received for specimens collected by
Black in 1957, we can go straight to the cabinet marked
"Black 1957" and slip each set of labels into the appropriate
species folder. When the specimens are taken out for sorting
the labels are distributed to the individual sheets. Small
collections worked up by a single botanist and integrated
into a single sequence must be adequately marked, for
example, "Smith 1955, Jones 1956, Brown 1956". Very
small collections with a substantial number of duplicates are
generally received only from a collector specializing in some
particular group of plants. They may all be put in one
cabinet with an appropriate label on the outside, but the
individual shelves should be labeled, for example, "Black,
Gramineae 1957" or "Johnson, Carex 1957-58." Miscel-
laneous collections received from collaborators generally
contain few, if any, duplicates; and any labels needed may
be typed individually when the identifications are made.

Sorting requires a great deal of shelf and bench space
when exchange specimens are to be sent to many institutions.
A pigeon hole or bench area is set aside and marked for
each institution. Sorting is preferably done co-operatively
by the whole taxonomic staff who, between them, will know
the special needs or preferences of many institutions. If a
particular set of specimens is reserved for some institution it
should be so marked in advance of sorting; otherwise, if the
staff member who arranged its disposition should be absent
at the time of sorting, the reservation may be overlooked.

55

Individual preference is, of course, only one factor of
several to be considered in the allocation of specimens. The
preferences of some institutions may not be known; others
merely require a representative set of your flora without a
preference for particular groups of plants. Inevitably the
disposition of specimens is substantially governed by the
standing of the exchange account: an institution to which
you are heavily indebted naturally tends to get a larger
share of your specimens than one with which you have a
credit. However, the exchange balance has little bearing
upon the most desirable disposition of important specimens.
If an institution with a heavy debit balance is the logical
depository for particular specimens, they should be sent
there if there is reason to believe that the account will
eventually be balanced. It is desirable to keep informed of
the activities of your exchange institutions as far as possible.
If you know that one is doing field work in an area impor-
tant to you, it is advisable to build up your credit on the
understanding that you will eventually get a set of the
duplicates.

Packing. — Stack the specimens and labels neatly, each on
a sheet of paper, wrap them in paper, and bind them firmly
between sheets of corrugated cardboard. Specimens may be
shipped in folded newsprint, but this practice hinders sort-
ing and examination. The bundles must be tight enough to
maintain pressure on every plant and label. If the plants
slide to the edges of the paper they are likely to be broken.
(See remarks above under packing and shipping of dried
specimens.) The bundled specimens should be packed in
substantial corrugated cartons. Old grocery cartons of suit-
able size may be used for occasional shipments, but if many
lots are sent out each year the job of locating enough suit-
able cartons becomes time-consuming. It is therefore pref-
erable to have a supply of cartons made up to your specifi-
cations. Two sizes are advisable, about 4 inches and 8
inches deep. Large shipments, if consigned to domestic
institutions, may be packed in wooden boxes and shipped by

56

express. However, for foreign shipments, parcel post has
proved much more reliable than express, both for prompt-
ness and to avoid customs difficulties. Of course, large ship-
ments sent by parcel post must be divided into cartons within
the maximum sizes allowed.

When a few sheets are to be sent on loan and your
smallest box is too large, pack them, well padded with paper,
between several sheets of corrugated cardboard. Use about
four sheets on each side and place some with the corruga-
tions running crosswise and some lengthwise. Address the
cartons and bundles and then wrap in several layers of heavy
brown paper and address again. Tie thoroughly with several
rounds of strong twine knotted at several points. Parcels
must, of course, be plainly addressed, preferably in black ink
and directly on the wrapping paper, since gummed labels
occasionally come off. Any parcel going out of the country
must have a customs declaration form stuck on to it; but
varying numbers of dispatch notes and loose customs declar-
ations are also needed for shipment between certain coun-
tries, and full instructions should be obtained from your post
office. The declaration should read "Dried Botanical (or
Museum) Specimens — ^No Commercial Value." Avoid any
wording that might suggest living plants, or the parcels may
be opened and the contents disturbed by a quarantine
inspector.

57

CHAPTER 2

FUNGI

Collecting and Drying

Introduction

One key to the successful preparation of specimens of
fungi, as of vascular plants, is rapid drying with gentle heat.
Rapid drying is necessary with most fungi to prevent
discloration through oxidation, overgrowth by molds, or
bacterial decay. It is even more desirable with foliicolous
parasites, in order to preserve the appearance of the host
plant; and, with mushrooms and other fungi, in order to
preserve the color, form and surface texture to the greatest
possible degree. However, the use of only gentle heat
together with rapid air exchange is fully as important with
fungi as with vascular plants, in fact probably more so for
fleshy fungi; for heat without rapid removal of moisture
simply increases discloration. The main function of the heat
is to reduce the relative humidity of the air that passes the
specimen; but it is also responsible for part or all of the air
circulation according to the type of drier. A possible method
of securing improved drying of fleshy fungi, especially,
is to draw desiccated air at approximately room temperature
past the specimens. With sound engineering design such a
drier might be economical enough for regular use, at least
for critical material, but such a method has probably not yet
been investigated. Another method, which has been tested
to a limited extent for mushrooms, is freeze-drying. The
hfelike appearance of such specimens is very good and they
may prove satisfactory for display purposes, such as a
demonstration of the characters of poisonous species; but

58

the specimens are too fragile to be practicable for a tax-
onomic collection, and the preparation and housing of them
would be too expensive and time-consuming.*

The laboratory drying cabinet described in Chapter 1,
and illustrated in Figure 8, with an adequate exhaust fan,
has been satisfactorily used for drying all types of fungi at
this institution for several years.

Small parts of specimens of fungi may be fixed in the
field in a fixing solution such as F.A.A. (formalin 7 cc,
glacial acetic acid 7 cc, 50 per cent alcohol 100 cc), in
which material may be left indefinitely without injury, if it
is anticipated that anatomical or cytological studies will be
made. No other specimens of fungi should be subjected to
liquid preservation. Fungi for taxonomic specimens are never
improved by liquid preservation; most are made more diffi-
cult to study, and many become completely unrecognizable.
The color of mushrooms is destroyed by such treatment.

In the following sections, suggestions are given for the
collection and drying of various groups of fungi that present
special problems. The fungi are grouped principally by
handling methods rather than by strictly natural groups. The
required equipment varies widely from group to group.

Field Notes

Full information should accompany every specimen, either
as a rough label or as an entry in the field notebook and
linked to the specimen through the collection number. The
data should include: date, locality, collector, collection
number, abundance, host or substrate, general habitat, and
elevation if from mountainous country. It is from this infor-
mation that the permanent label must be prepared, and a
specimen without an adequate label is of very little value.
Particular data for various groups of fungi are discussed
below. See also "Field Notes" in Chapter 1. A consecutive
system of collection numbers like that used by phanerogamic
botanists, is highly recommended for mycological collectors.
It is particularly useful for foliicolous fungi, as outlined
below.

* See addendum 13. 5Q

Foliicolous Fungi

Included here are the rusts, smuts, downy mildews,
powdery mildews, a variety of ascomycetes and imperfect
fungi, and a few other minor groups. The collecting, pressing
and drying of foliicolous fungi are so similar to these proc-
esses for the vascular plants on which they grow that the
reader is referred to Chapter 1 for general information;
but a few points are emphasized below. Thorough pressing
is important, for wrinkled leaves gradually shatter in the
packet.

Because of the similarity in field methods, phanerogamists
and mycologists concerned with foliicolous fungi can often
combine their field work to their mutual benefit. This is
particularly true of inadequately botanized and relatively
inaccessible regions, where general collecting of all groups
of plants is usually desired. This end may be attained either
by the mycologist and phanerogamist working together or
by one assuming the collecting duties of the other. The latter
is the more economical alternative in the arctic where the
flora is too limited to warrant two trained collectors working
together; but it cannot be effective unless each is well versed
in the field methods and requirements of the other. Because
of this the mycologist and phanerogamist should work
together for at least one season before undertaking double
duty; otherwise too many valuable opportunities will be
wasted through ignorance. In countries such as Canada,
where relatively few botanists must cover a vast area, this
interdisciplinary approach to field work can be a big help.

A prime requirement in specimens of parasitic fungi, and
indeed of many saprophytic species, is positive identification
of the host plant. A name applied in full confidence to the
host when the collection is made may be shown, by future
studies, to embrace a group of closely related species. There-
fore, adequate material for identification of the host should
always be taken. It may be possible to include whole plants
in the packet when small herbs are involved; and tall,
slender herbs, such as grasses and sedges, may often be

60

included by cutting them in sections. Alternatively the
critical parts for determination of larger plants may be
included, although selection of appropriate material some-
times requires a knowledge of the taxonomy of the host
genus. If good phanerogamic material cannot be included
with the mycological specimen, take an ample phanerogamic
specimen, to be inserted in the phanerogamic herbarium
under the same collection number as the mycological speci-
men. When combined phanerogamic and mycological col-
lecting is done, the taking of host and parasite under a
single collection number should be routine practice. If more
than one fungus occurs on the host segregate the specimens
by letters added at the end of the number. Then if doubt
later arises as to the identity of the host, you can check in
the phanerogamic herbarium.

Although the habitat of the parasitic fungus is approxi-
mately that of the host plant, it often happens that the
parasite occurs in only part of the host colony. Note any
discernible feature of the habitat that correlates with the
occurrence of the fungus such as low ground, shade, ex-
posure or, in mountainous country, altitude.

Mycological specimens of herbaceous plants should be
freed from soil even more sedulously than phanerogamic
specimens. If soil particles are scattered through the sheets
in the press, many become embedded in the specimens and
are carried into the packet. If they cover the fruiting sur-
faces of the fungus it is difficult to avoid picking some of
them up with the fungus when a microscopic mount is made.
Even a small piece of grit under the cover slip may make
it impossible to press the cover glass down enough for
proper examination of the mount. Attempts to flatten the
mount may cause breakage of the cover.

Be sure to collect ample material of these fungi, for a
specimen may prove to be fruiting much more sparsely than
appearance in the field suggests. In any case at least one
sheet should be filled, any surplus over personal require-
ments being used for exchange. If you keep phanerogamic

61

and mycological material on separate sheets whenever
practicable, you will reduce the time lost later in sorting.
Some parasitic fungi are much less conspicuous after drying
than when fresh, and the sorting may have to be done under
the dissecting microscope.

Many of the rust fungi have in their life cycle several
spore forms, which may differ considerably in appearance.
Try to secure all states that are present, for some species
are difficult to identify from a single one. Many rusts bear
their aecial (cluster cup) state on one host and the uredinia
and telia (commonly yellowish-brown and black respectively)
on another, unrelated plant. For example, most grass and
sedge rusts bear their aecia on various dicotyledons. In late
spring and early summer both hosts may be found rusted
together. Both should then be collected with notes on the
association. If the rust is heavy where the two plants are
closely associated, and progressively lighter as they become
further apart, the presumption that they are the alternate
hosts of a single rust is strong. Any such information should
be recorded. In spring it may be possible to find the old telia
on stems of the previous year associated with the aecia; or
in mid- to late summer the spent aecia may be recognizable
under a lens on blackened areas of the leaves of the aecial
host, close to the fresh uredinia and telia.

In temperate regions most foliicolous ascomycetes do not
mature the ascigerous state on the living leaves in summer,
although a conidial state may be produced. If it is not
feasible to return to collect the overwintered leaves in the
early spring, take a large amount of infected leaves in late
summer or fall; dry without heat (or take them home with-
out drying if this can be achieved without their becoming
moldy); place the leaves in net bags or wire screen con-
tainers, and put them in a place that resembles the natural
habitat as closely as possible. In early spring check the leaves
periodically and press and dry them as soon as the ascospores
are plentiful.

62

In the arctic, where phenomena of spring, summer and
fall tend to become telescoped, fruiting of the ascomycetes
is not usually confined to spring but may last into August,
or even start in August and be completed next spring. The
old stems and leaves of most plants bear a variety of such
fungi, which form a large proportion of the total fungus flora.
Since there is a good chance of finding some fruiting
material at any time during the normal field season, it is
desirable to collect old stems and leaves with phanerogamic
specimens. These fungi may be scarcely visible, let alone
distinguishable from each other, by the naked eye, but the
addition of a few dead stems to the specimen takes so little
time that nothing is lost if the material proves to be sterile.
The fungi are finally 'collected' in the laboratory under the
dissecting microscope. Not much is known about these arctic-
alpine saprophytic microfungi. They have generally been
taken accidentally with phanerogamic specimens. The speci-
mens are usually extremely inadequate; for the few affected
leaves in a specimen may bear five or six different fungi, some
represented by only one or two fruit bodies. The general
collector should therefore refrain from cleaning all the old
leaves and stems off his plants. Even if they yield no fungi,
the siems may be left on the plant specimen as a means of
comparing the plant heights in successive years. Bacterial
action is so meager in the arctic that even delicate leaves and
stems may remain attached to the plants for two or three
years. It is as well to include both the stems of the previous
year, which are usually yellowish brown, and those of earlier
years, which are usually ashen. The latter may bear only
spent fruit bodies but occasionally yield species that are
lacking from the younger stems.

There is one characteristic of the downy mildews that the
collector should bear in mind. These fungi fruit only in
saturated or nearly saturated air, especially during dewfall.
In wet or foggy weather it is possible to obtain good material
at almost any time of day. But in clear weather the conidio-
phores and spores are produced at night and may collapse

63

before midmorning. In such weather the best collections are
generally made within an hour or two of sunrise, although
morning fog or a heavy dew may prolong the useful collecting
period until about 10 a.m.

In addition to the field equipment regularly used for
vascular plants, a hand lens of 10- to 15-power should
always be carried. Paper bags should be carried in the field
press for small specimens, fragile ones or for solitary infected
plants taken with a phanerogamic collection, which might
otherwise be overlooked. Tags and painted stakes may be
needed for marking plants to which return trips are to be
made.

Fleshy Fungi

This term is here used to include the mushrooms (Agari-
cales), puffballs, etc. (Gasteromycetes), clavarias (Clavaria-
ceae), the larger cup fungi (Pezizales) and a few minor
groups. These fungi are generally both fragile and ephemeral.
If presentable and satisfactory specimens are to be obtained
they must be handled carefully, and examined and dried
promptly. They must not be put in formalin or other pre-
serving liquids. When it is practicable to do so, as is
often the case in forested country, fleshy fungi should be
collected separately from other plants, because they require
distinctive equipment. Thus, even if one is doing general
collecting of all groups of plants in an area, days should
be set aside for fleshy fungi. Such a day will generally be
about three or four days after heavy and prolonged rain.

For fleshy fungi you need a light but rigid and easily
carried container of ample size, such as a large, flat-bottomed
basket, in which the specimens may be carried without
being crushed. Keep the fungi separated by placing them in
paper bags or wrapping in wax paper. If you are visiting a
wide area jot down the particular habitat and include this
information with each specimen as it is taken. Some of these
fungi have narrow ecological limits. Habitat details may
therefore be important. If the fungus is growing on wood,

64

get a little piece of it, too; it can often be identified later
even if you do not recognize it in the field. By describing the
forest type in your notes you immediately narrow down the
range of possible hosts. It is important that at least some of
the plants in each collection be complete. For example the
base of a mushroom stem should always be included, because
the presence or absence of a cuplike basal volva, more or
less buried in the ground, is an important diagnostic
character. Remove as much dirt as possible when the speci-
men is dug; otherwise the final cleaning is greatly complicated.
Fleshy fungi present a serious problem to the general
collector who, because little time can be spent in an area
or because the fungi are scarce, cannot afford to set aside
special days for them. For example, you may be doing
general collecting in the arctic or above tree line on a
mountain, where you may see only a single species of fleshy
fungi in a full day's walking. Under such conditions you
would not want to carry a basket for fleshy fungi, because
you will be devoting most of the day to collecting vascular
plants, foliicolous fungi, mosses and lichens, all of which
may safely be put into the field press. Unfortunately the
very scarcity of these fungi in arctic-alpine regions makes
it important that good specimens be taken whenever they
are seen. A reasonable compromise is to carry one or more
rigid cardboard boxes about 2 inches deep (arctic-alpine
mushrooms and puff balls are generally small) into which the
specimens may be placed in paper bags. The boxes are
carried in the pocket of the field press, in a small haversack
or even in large parka pockets. The folded-down paper bags
prevent the specimens from rolling about in the box, and
the box prevents them from being crushed. If you are
caught in the field without a box it is sometimes possible to
bring back a specimen in fair condition by putting wads of
moss above and below it in a paper bag and putting the
bag between wads of paper or any other bulky objects in
the pocket of the field press; but this is a poor substitute
for a rigid container.

65

As soon as possible after the fungi are collected, make
notes on their colors, shape, size and consistency, for all
these properties change to varying degrees with drying.
There are some other characters that are occasionally very
important, although usually of little significance. The general
collector, who may not know when to record a particular
character, often records those that are least significant. At
one time we provided a printed field label for mushrooms
with space for every imaginable kind of information. This
method tends to defeat its purpose when mushrooms are
plentiful; for, after spending three hours writing up a dozen
specimens, the collector, burdened with other duties, often
abandons mushroom collecting altogether.

The following suggestions may be of some help to the
general collector with little knowledge of mushrooms. A few
genera or species have some striking character that is lacking
in all others: its absence is unimportant, but its occasional
occurrence is vital to complete identification. Record the
presence of watery juice, and the presence, color or color
change of milky juice exuded from a broken specimen.
Record any strong or unusual taste or smell; a few species
have a peppery taste when chewed slightly between the front
teeth and touched to the tongue. (Do not swallow any pieces
of raw mushrooms; but tasting is perfectly safe except in
the Amanitas, which combine white gills, a ring and a basal
volva.) Do not waste time trying to describe a faint *mush-
roomy' taste or smell. Record any color change that occurs
when, especially, a bolete (tube mushroom) is cut or
bruised; such changes are diagnostic but the colors may later
fade. Record briefly the color or color range of the cap,
flesh of the cap, gills and stem. The color of the young gills
is important in Cortinarius, which is distinguished by its
very heavy cobwebby veil over the gills. The shape of the
gills and the surface markings of cap and stem are generally
obvious in the dried specimen and may be ignored if time is
scarce. Although it is occasionally of no great importance, a
spore print is vital in some genera, such as Russula, and is

66

always useful. It should be taken whenever possible. Cut the
stem off, lay the cap with the gills down on a sheet of white
paper, and cover it with a glass dish or anything else that
will keep it from drying out. In a few hours, provided that
the mushroom is neither very young nor very old, a visible
deposit of spores in radial lines corresponding with the gills
appears on the paper. (If the spores are colorless the pattern
shows up when the paper is held at an angle to the light.)
As soon as you have made notes put the specimens in the
drier on sheets of paper or in open paper bags and lay
the notes, including date, collector's name and number,
alongside them. After you get the spore print put the
specimen in the drier with the rest of the collection. Write
the collection number on the paper bearing the spore
print and file the print with the dried specimen. Small speci-
mens dry overnight, large ones in about a day, and extremely
large ones in about two days in an efficient drier.

When traveling in settled country it is simple to take along
a small collapsible drier powered by electricity. The design
will depend on the type and quantity of collecting that is
being done. If you are doing general collecting use a portable
drier of the general type described in Chapter 1 ; the relatively
small number of fleshy fungi you collect can be put in open
paper bags in the bottom of it. If you are collecting only
fleshy fungi, and space is at a premium, make a drier with
a folding frame of wood or heavy wire, wire screen shelves,
and walls of flame-proofed canvas. An electric light or a
kerosene lantern in the base supplies the heat. Be sure to
leave ample air inlet space at the base.

The handling of fleshy fungi in camp in the north, with
several people competing for the space available in a small
tent, can be very difficult. There is little or no space for
setting up moist chambers for spore prints; there are probably
no work tables, and yet the floor space must be kept clear;
and the time that the general collector can devote to the
handUng of individual specimens is usually very limited. Yet
the spore print is perhaps more important, on the average,

67

than any written data and should not be neglected. Drying
the specimens and packing them and the prints, also pre-
sent problems. It has been found that the small number of
mushrooms that are Fikely to be taken by the general col-
lector can be processed in identifiable, if not perfect,
condition as follows:

Take a piece of white paper about three times as wide as
the cap of the mushroom, and of a length a little more than
this amount. Along the center line punch one to several
holes with the point of a pencil. Make the holes large
enough to take the stems of the mushrooms and spaced so
that the caps do not overlap. Push the stems through the
holes; turn up the sides of the paper and fold them across
the cap (see Figure 11). Then turn down the ends of the
folded paper at right angles; in this way you will secure the
fruit bodies and form a support in which they can be stood
upright. Stand the paper, with its contained mushrooms,
upright in a paper bag (other fruit bodies of the same
collection may be put in with it), and put wet moss in the
top of the bag to prevent drying out of the specimens. Set
the bag upright in a cool moist place (for example, under
the eave of the tent) for a few hours. One to several speci-
men bags can be enclosed in a polyethylene bag to prevent
dessication. Wedge the bags in a vertical position; the gills
of a mushroom are closely spaced, and if the bag is tilted
much nearly all the spores will fall on and cling to the
adjacent gill instead of reaching the paper. If the specimens
are processed in the evening, leave them for deposition of
the spore print overnight. Mark the collection number on
the bag and also on the paper in which the fruit bodies are
folded. The rest of the data are generally put in the field
notebook, although if it is preferred, they may be put on a
slip of paper and included in the bag. At the end of the
spore-printing period remove the moss and place the bag,
open, in the drier or on the floor between the lamps, if the
drier described in Chapter 1 is being used for general col-
lecting. In such a drier small specimens dry in about 24

68

Figure 11. — Preparing mushrooms for making spore prints in the field.

hours, large ones in two to three days. Once the specunens
are dry fold down the tops of the bags and secure the fold
with paper clips, rubber bands or gummed paper strips,
then put the bags in a box in a dry place. By this method
the individual fruit bodies are not touched after they are
set up for spore printing, and the spore print cannot become
separated from its specimen. The folded paper and the
paper bag combine to make a springy support for the
specimens, simplifying packing and reducing the risk of
damage in transit. Pack the accumulated specimens in a box
with crumpled paper or other light material that will fill
up any space.

69

The identification of puffballs depends partly on gross
external characters of the fruit body (color and markings)
and partly on the microscopic characters of the spores.
Specimens should therefore be mature enough to contain
spores, that is, they must be colored and preferably powdery
inside. But they should not be so old that the outside has
become weathered. In the arctic, where the growing season
is short and decay slow, it is sometimes possible to collect
young specimens of the current season, showing the external
characters, adjacent to old fruit bodies of the previous year
that still contain spores.

One interesting genus is Cordyceps, whose brightly colored,
more or less clavate fruit bodies may be found protruding
from forest litter or moss. These fungi parasitize insects and
the slender stalk of the fruit body grows up from the buried
larva or pupa of the insect. The fungi should be dug with
extreme care, in order that the insect may be recovered,
preferably still attached to the fruit body; there i$ some
degree of host specificity in these fungi, and at least approxi-
mate determination of the host is always desirable.

The subterranean fungi, both the trufiles and their allies
and the superficially similar underground gasteromycetes, are
not often collected because few people think to look for
them. Bear them in mind when digging up plants or fungi.
If you fijid one search the surrounding area carefully. These
fungi are sometimes found in rodent caches. When you see
squirrels or other animals digging it is worth investigating
to see what they are taking. When general collecting is being
done only briefly in an area a systematic search for hypogeous
fungi is impractical. However, a more systematic search
should be made in the collector's home territory. For this
purpose a trowel can be used to turn over sample areas of
forest floor periodically in different associations.

Wood-destroying Fungi

The wood-destroying fungi include the Polyporaceae,
many of which are conspicuous bracket fungi, the more or

70

less appressed Thelephoraceae, and the tooth-bearing
Hydnaceae, as well as some of the true mushrooms. The first
three groups are relatively firm, and leathery or woody,
compared with the mushrooms. Because of their bulk these
fungi are usually carried in large baskets; but, if you are
working in rough terrain and must keep your hands free,
put the individual collections in paper bags and carry them
in a haversack or pack. These fungi are less fragile than
mushrooms, though some of the delicate ones may be quite
brittle when dry. They also change less in color, size and
shape as they dry. They include all the important causes of
timber decay and are thus of great economic importance.
The specimen should be accompanied by the name of the
host, if this can be determined in the field, and should
include enough wood to show the type of decay. If the
decay organism is to be cultured, cut out a substantial block
of wood with a saw. Otherwise use a heavy knife, small
hand ax, or machete for cutting the specimen away from the
substrate.

Although for preservation of color and form rapid dry-
ing is less critical for these fungi than for the fleshy fungi,
it is important in preventing loss of the spores and should
always be practised.

Microfungi on Twigs, Bark, etc.

These fungi are generally not very fragile, and may be
collected into paper bags and carried in a haversack or
basket. Take along pruning shears if you are looking for
twig-inhabiting species. You will also need a heavy knife
for trimming specimens from wood, bark or large twigs.
When identifiable material of the host is available it should
be included.

Heat should be used for drying, but it is not a critical
need if the specimens are not extremely bulky and are taken
in fine weather.

71

Coprophilous Fungi

A distinctive fungus flora develops on the dung of various
animals but particularly of herbivorous mammals. Students
of these fungi are glad to have dung samples from out-of-
the-way places and from rare or localized animals. Take
the fresh, moderately dry pellets, which are easier to handle
and yield more of interest than do very old, weathered
pellets. Put the samples in paper bags, cardboard boxes or
tins. If they are not intended for immediate study dry them
in the air for one to several days according to size. Use
only very gentle heat. If specimens are in tins leave them
uncovered during this period. When it is desired to develop
the fungal fruit bodies place the pellets in moist chambers
for several days and keep them under observation. Quite a
succession of fungi may occasionally develop, but the details
of such studies are beyond the scope of this manual. Remove
the mature fungi and dry them in the ordinary way. On the
label include date, locality, collector and number; also record
the time and temperature used for development of the fruit
bodies and the identity, if possible, of the animal that made
the droppings. The locality and habitat will help to narrow
the choice. Identifiable tracks may be present. Experienced
zoologists, trappers or naturalists will often be able to help.
A few natural history books (such as O. J. Murie, A Field
Guide to Animal Tracks, Houghton Mifliin Co., 1954) give
information on this subject.

Myxomycetes

The slime molds are one of the most frequently collected
groups of fungi — and one of the most poorly collected.
Unless the delicate structure of the fruit bodies is well
preserved, specimens are often completely unidentifiable.
Because of the difficulty of preserving them from damage
most collectors take only a small amount from a colony,
and thus duplicates are seldom available for distribution.
Even when we receive specimens large enough to divide,
their condition seldom warrants making duplicates. This is

72

one group of organisms that must be preserved from crush-
ing and battering. Take specimens with a substantial amount
of the log, twig or other substrate on which the organism is
fruiting. The substrate can then be used to wedge the
specimen into a pill box, salve tin or other receptacle. If
you are caught in the field without a suitable box make one
of cardboard of other material. In an emergency, fold a
sheet of paper several times, and then fold it into a
rectangular box; stiffen the sides by whittUng thin slivers
of wood and putting them between the layers of paper, and
fasten the box shut with string. In the laboratory you can
stick the specimens to the bottoms of permanent boxes.

Although myxomycetes take no nourishment from the
substrate upon which they fruit, but merely climb up it, they
show considerable restriction in habitat. The substrate may
reflect the habitat and should be recorded along with other
habitat data. Thus Lamproderma cribrarioides is commonly
found on living plants of Lycopodium; presumably the acid,
organic soil on which the Lycopodium grows is suitable for
the slime mold.

Bulky specimens should be dried with heat, but small ones
will dry readily at room temperature in a dry building.

Plant Disease Specimens

The instructions given for foUicolous fungi and micro-
fungi on twigs cover many of the requirements for specimens
that show diseases of garden or crop plants. However,
diseases may attack the roots, crown or main stem of a plant,
although the principal symptoms show on the leaves as
wilting, marginal scorching or general discoloration. If such a
disease is suspected, dig the plant, free it from soil, flatten
it between several layers of newspaper, bind it between
sheets of cardboard, and send it at once to the nearest plant
pathologist. Plants so packed will preserve many of the
original symptoms; and it is often possible to isolate the
causal organism from them. Never ship plants wet and
wrapped in waxed paper unless you can be sure that they

73

will be delivered within about 24 hours. Remember that a
slight delay in delivery may result in a weekend intervening
before the specimens reach the recipient. If they are in a
warm place during this time they will ferment and blacken
beyond recognition or become covered by molds; in either
case the symptoms will be obscured and isolation of the
pathogen becomes impossible. If you are close to a plant
pathology laboratory it is generally best to pot up the plant
with the minimum disturbance of the soil about the roots and
deliver it personally.

Plant disease specimens are sometimes put in liquid
preservatives in an attempt to preserve the symptoms for
demonstration purposes. Such specimens are bulky and messy
to store; the liquid has to be replaced periodically; and the
tops of the jars sometimes are impossible to remove for
renewal of the liquid. The colors generally fade eventually,
even when special color preservatives are used, so it is
usually better to keep only herbarium specimens and to use
color transparencies to show the symptoms. If specimens are
kept for anatomical study do not use color preservatives that
contain metallic salts, for electrolytic action quickly ruins the
edge of a razor when such material is sectioned.

Processing Dried Specimens

Introduction

The methods by which specimens are filed and housed
depend somewhat upon the size and scope of the herbarium
as well as personal choice. Some practices are more or less
universal, but details vary greatly from one institution to
another and also from one group of fungi to another. The
principal requirements are: (1) protection of the specimens
from mechanical damage, fire and insects; (2) ready acces-
sibility of the specimens for study; and (3) a system suffici-
ently flexible to allow normal growth of the herbarium
without frequent laborious reorganizations. The methods in
use in the Plant Research Institute are outlined below for

74

some of the groups of fungi that were treated in the first
part of this chapter. This outline will serve as an example of
satisfactory methods rather than a full acount of all the
possible alternatives. Experienced curators will certainly not
agree with all our methods, but may benefit from some sug-
gestions. The mycologist faced with starting a new herbarium
will probably l)enefit more extensively; for recent sharply
accelerated growth and changes of emphasis in the National
Mycological Herbarium have forced us to cope with problems
that might not otherwise have seemed significant.

Before outlining our methods it may be well to mention
a few practices that often seem desirable to the beginner but
become increasingly unsatisfactory as the herbarium grows.
The first is the practice of filing packeted specimens like
index cards, on edge in a cabinet rather than mounting
them on sheets. The beginner is inevitably impressed with
the apparent logic of this method, but it has several dis-
advantages. If the packets are stored on edge the specimens
tend to work to the bottom, and fragile material is easily
broken up. If the packets are filed on edge like index cards,
they are handled like index cards. The amount of handling
in an actively used herbarium is substantial, and the wear
on the tops of the packets eventually becomes serious. Thus
repacketing may become necessary long before it should,
causing much extra work and often posing a problem in the
disposal of manuscript annotations on the old packet.
Finally this method demands an essentially uniform packet
size. With very small specimens this treatment is merely
somewhat wasteful; but with the large dimensions often
needed for good specimens of foliicolous fungi the brutal
chopping that it entails is positively procrustean Th?. method
also necessitates the repacketing of many exchange speci-
mens, which reach you in packets of various sizes.

Another practice that may seem innocuous in a small
collection is the adoption of a completely arbitrary arrange-
ment of the specimens, unmounted, in a numerical sequence.
The less objectionable variation of this system is one in

75

which each species is allotted a number. All the specimens
of a species bear this number and are filed together. In order
to find a species, reference is made to a species index, in
which the nomenclature must be kept up to date. Related
species seldom, and only by chance, occur together in the
herbarium. This system throws extra work upon every user
of the herbarium; and, when loan requests are received, it
greatly increases the work of record keeping for the curator,
who must mark the withdrawal of the individual species of a
genus instead of merely the genus. Another minor dis-
advantage of this method, which was employed in the
private harbarium of the late Dr. John Deamess, is that
workers who borrow specimens often interpret and cite the
species numbers as collection or accession numbers. A much
more objectionable variation of the numerical filing system
is that in which the specimens are filed in the sequence of
their accession numbers. In this system not only are related
species scattered but even the individual collections of each
species are dispersed. Specimens must be sought through the
use of an elaborate index and found only with considerable
labor; and the index must be kept continuously up to date.
In searching for a group of related species one must think
of, and check, all possible names to which specimens may
have been referred through the whims of earlier staff
members, to be reasonably certain of finding all the avail-
able material. The one minor advantage of this system is
that it simplifies insertion. As we shall see below, a more
logically arranged herbarium serves as its own index, allow-
ing the clerical staff to be more usefully employed.

We shall now follow the stages of processing newly
acquired specimens before dealing with other aspects of
herbarium practice.

Pocketing and Labeling

When a collection has been identified, ample material for
a specimen is put in a packet together with a slip of paper

76

bearing spore measurements and other microscopic charac-
teristics. Surplus material is put into other packets for ex-
change. K the collection is not large enough to divide, a
single label is typed, or printed with black ink, and is clipped
to the packet. If there are duplicates they are attached to the
master packet with a separate clip or with rubber bands,
but the master label remains associated with its own packet.
If there are only a few duplicate packets the labels for them
are typed individually. If there are more than five, one label
and a carbon copy are typed initially. The carbon stays with
the duplicates. The required number of duplicates is marked
on the original. When a number of such labels have been
accumulated, they are sorted into groups of six for each of
which nearly the same numbers of duplicates are needed.
A stencil is then cut for each group of labels and the neces-
sary copies are prmted. The labels are cut up and sent back
to the herbarium, where they are attached to the packets;
the duplicates are then put in boxes to await the next dis-
tribution of exchange specimens.

Attaching an individual label as it is made is time-
consuming. It is generally preferable to accumulate speci-
mens in appropriately marked boxes until a considerable
number are on hand. Labels can then be attached quickly,
and without using a great surplus of mucilage, as follows.
Spread a thin film of mucilage on a glass plate, renewing it
periodically with a brush and adding a little water as it
becomes too stiff. Touch the top i inch of the label to the
film of mucilage and press it into position on the packet with
a wipe from a pad of cleansing tissue. Do not use more
adhesive than is actually needed. The excess runs out from
under the label, staining it and the packet, and often causing
two packets to stick together.*

Four sizes of machine-made packet, similar to that shown
in Figure 10, are used in the mycological herbarium: (1)
3XU inches; (2) 5x3 inches; (3) 5iX4i inches; and
(4) 9ix3i inches. The first of these packets is used to
hold a microscope slide, a very small specimen or a selected
part of a specimen; it is always kept within a larger packet.

* See addendum 9. »y»y

The third size of packet is used most extensively. It will
hold a relatively bulky specimen, notes, and a slide in a
thin cardboard container. The second size of packet saves
considerable space in housing small specimens; it will house
a slide in the No. 1 packet, but the bulkier cardboard slide
holder is inclined to prevent the flaps of this small packet
from lying flat. (Recent trials have indicated that the No. 1
packet is a satisfactory slide holder for sUdes sealed with
a sealing material, such as clear nail lacquer, which is not
sticky when dry.) The long No. 4 packet is useful for speci-
mens on twings or shoots, especially where a short piece
does not show the symptoms satisfactorily; but it is par-
ticularly valuable for parasites on slender herbs that are
often included in their entirety. It will hold complete oi
nearly complete grasses and sedges, avoiding the common
and exasperating situation in which doubts about the iden-
tity of the host cannot be resolved. The number and exact
sizes of the packets selected are a matter of choice; but, in
the one chosen to correspond to No. 3, it is essential that
the length be slightly less than half the width of the her-
barium sheet (IH inches). Two such packets may then be
mounted side by side and the sheet filled with the minimum
waste space.

Bulky specimens such as mushrooms, or fungi on thick
twigs, cannot be kept satisfactorily in the type of packet just
described, for the flaps tend to fly open. They are kept
instead in hand-folded packets made from paper measuring
Six 11 inches, which are made as follows: Fold up the
bottom of the sheet to within 1 i inches of the top, and score
the fold; fold the top H inches down over the first fold;
finally turn the paper over and fold each end back for H
inches. This method gives a packet 41 inches high and 5i
inches long. The precise height of the packet is not important,
but the length must be carefully controlled. If the length is
much over 5i inches two packets will not fit side by side on
the sheet. A much shorter packet will have such long flaps
(unless they are trimmed) that little space will be left under
the center of the packet for attaching it to the sheet. In

78

making this style of packet, which may of course be made in
other sizes also, the first two folds are made in one stage;
then, when several have been folded, they are turned over
and the end folds made. A simple jig may be used as a fold-
ing guide, but a board marked with guide lines gives close
enough control and is simpler to use. The method is shown
in Figure 12. The folds are scored with the back of a finger
nail or with a smoothly rounded hardwood stick. When such
a packet is stuck to the sheet by its center and the flaps are
turned under, it stays firmly closed even with quite bulky
contents. After mushrooms are identified they are placed
for 4 to 8 hours in a moist chamber (but not in contact with
water), which relaxes them slightly. They are then pressed

•8'/;"-

Ftgure 12. — Method of preparing hand-folded packets. A Sheet of paper In

position on guide lines. B. First fold (up). C. Second fold (down). D. Packet

turned over and final folds made.

79

gently, so that they will fit easily into a packet, and redried.
Extremely bulky specimens are filed separately in special
boxes, as described below. Large sheets of paper should be
kept on hand for making extra large packets to house mush-
rooms which, though reasonably flat, are too broad to go in
a standard packet.

Packets must be made of bond paper of high quality.
Sulphite paper must never be used because permanence is
essential. If good bond paper cannot be obtained, heavy kraft
paper may be used. It is actually rather more durable than
most bonds, but the color is objectionable, annotations do
not show up well on it, and less light is available for
examination of specimens in the open packet.

Cellophane envelopes about 4^x4 inches are sometimes
used inside packets to hold exceptionally dusty specimens,
such as some of the smut fungi, whose spores tend to sift
out of any packets; the open side is folded over. These
envelopes are also useful for some other types of specimens,
notably dried agar cultures whose appearance is diagnostic.
They may be handled in the envelope without becoming
rubbed.*

Accessioning and Indexing

Two other steps are taKen before the specimen is inserted
in the herbarium. When it has been identified and the label
made, it is entered in the accession book. Opposite the acces-
sion, or serial, number in the margin of the book are entered
the name, host or substrate, locality in brief, collector and
date. The number is then written on the label. Duplicate
labels are made after accessioning and the number is typed
on them.

The accession books are kept in the form of four-ring
foolscap binders. The entries are made on the left side of
the page, the right side being kept for redispositions. When
specimens are to be entered the date of entry is written in
the margin below the first accession number. This procedure
allows a quick estimate to be made of the specimens added

* See addendum 14.

80

to the herbarium in a given period; and it helps in the locating
of specimens that are in course of being processed for
insertion.

The accession nimiber serves two main purposes. It occa-
sionally helps in tracing a specimen that has been mislaid
or redisposed; and it allows brief but unequivocal citation of
specimens. If all mycologists used collection numbers this
second use would disappear, since the collection number
would then be cited. Unfortunately many mycologists still
do not use collection numbers, and it accordingly seems
advisable to continue the accessioning system. It is time-
consuming and its value is somewhat in doubt. The accession
number has, moreover, frequently been confused by citing
authors with a collection number. For this reason the space
for the accession nmnber on our label forms is now headed
by DAOM, the abbreviation of the herbariirai. An accession
number does not altogether replace a collection number. This
is particularly true for parasitic fungi in which the collection
number, with a qualifying letter if it is preferred, can refer
both to the fungus specimen and to a specimen of the host
plant. For bulky specimens that must be kept in boxes the
accession number serves another purpose. The nimiber is
printed both on the label and on each separate piece of the
specimen. Thus there is no risk of accidental mixing of
adjacent specimens.

The final step to be taken before the specimen is
inserted is to check that the species is recorded, on the
particular host or substrate, in the host index. The host
index is a relatively recent innovation in this institution and
a most useful one. No attempt has been made to list all the
hosts and substrates that have been recorded for any fungus,
but only those represented in the herbarium. Host plants
are recorded to genus; and other substrates such as wood
and bark, dung, bone, paper, textiles, soil, etc., are broadly
categorized. At the top left of each 3X5 inch index card is
typed the host or substrate category. At the top right of
each card is marked the major group to which the fungus

81

belongs (listed below under Insertion). The name of the
fungus is typed below the headings. A blue marker card with
a tab on the left marks the start of each host or substrate;
and a buff marker with a right-hand tab marks each fungus
group under a given host, but the buff markers are not
used if there are only a few fungi recorded on the host.
A few groups of fungi are excluded from the host index.
The Agaricales and Gasteromycetes are not entered because
most of them grow on soil or decayed wood. The wood-
inhabiting Hymenomycetes are separately indexed in con-
nection with studies of wood-destroying fungi, and so are
excluded from the general index.

The host index is supplemented by a synonym index.
Whenever a redisposition is made a card is put in the
synonym index, under the old name, to show the new dis-
position. The purpose is simply to aid users in the location
of specimens, and not to record the full synonymy for a
species. When the name of a very well-known fungus, such
as a common plant pathogen, is changed, we may leave an
empty folder in its former place, directing the enquirer
to the new name. Such blank folders can usually be removed
in a year or so as the new name gains familiarity.

Exsiccata*

In the National Mycological Herbarium most of the sets
of published exsiccata are kept as such, rather than being
distributed through the herbarium; but some small or in-
complete sets, and some that contain plants other than
fungi, are distributed in normal sequence. These sets are
indexed under the names allocated to the specimens when
the sets were issued. In using the index one must accordingly
be prepared to look for specimens under possible synonyms.
An asterisk on a card in the host index warns the user that
there is material in the exsiccata. There is much to be said

♦ Exsiccata: neuter plural of exsiccatus, literally anything dried. Also
used in masculine when specifically governing fungi or musci, or in
feminine when governing plantae or algae. Refers to sets of specimens
published, like a book, with printed labels.

82

for incorporating all sets of exsiccata in the main sequence
of the herbarium, where they are readily available and thus
more useful. The counter arguments are that, if they are in
the main sequences, the exsiccata tend to be used in prefer-
ence to other specimens and may become exhausted; and that
a cited exsiccatum is more promptly accessible for reference
if it is in the set. If it is in the general herbarium it may
have been redisposed to a name unfamiliar to the person
seeking it, or it may be somewhat buried if the fungus is
represented by a great many specimens. Because the speci-
mens are often scanty in some of the older sets, permanent
mounts should be made of any specimens that are examined.
The exsiccata are often in small packets, crowded on the
sheets, and the mounts are accordingly usually put in packets
in the general herbarium. More serious than the separation
of the slides from the parent specimens is the fact that the
exsiccata are not utilized to their full possible value if
kept in sets, because much time is involved in locating the
required specimens and there is the possibility of overlooking
some under obscure names.

Herbarium Sequence

Before we discuss insertion of the specimens, the arrange-
ment of the species in the herbarium should be considered.
The fully processed specimens are sorted alphabetically under
the major categories used in the herbarium. These are:
Myxomycetes; Phycomycetes, general; Peronosporales;
Ascomycetes, miscellaneous; Taphrinales; Erysiphales; Dis-
comycetes, operculate; Discomycetes, inoperculate; Pyre-
nomycetes; Tuberales; Phomales; Melanconiales; Hyphomy-
cetes; Mycelia Sterilia; Miscellanea (especially bacterial,
virus, nematode and physiological diseases); Ustilaginales;
Uredinales; Agaricaceae; Boletaceae; Clavariaceae; Lyco-
perdales; Nidulariales; Sclerodermatales; Hymenogastrales;
Phallales; Auriculariaceae; Tremellaceae; Tulasnellaceae;
Dacrymycetaceae; Hydnaceae; Polyporaceae; Exobasid-
iaceae; Thelephoraceae.

83

Within these groups the specimens are filed alphabetically
by genus and species, with some exceptions to be noted
below. We are sometimes asked why we do not divide some
of these categories further, in order to bring related genera
closer together. The Pyrenomycetes are an obvious target
for such criticism. The use of smaller categories may give
rise to several difficulties. There may be no general agree-
ment on what these categories are, or what their limits
are. There may be numerous embarrassing intermediates
that must be assigned arbitrarily to a category. Those
inserting specimens and those using them for study must
either memorize the system of classification that is chosen
or continually refer to an index that will tell them where to
find a particular genus. An elaborate classification with small
categories would be satisfactory if none but a specialist in a
group ever worked on that group. Thus a uredinologist
might divide the rust fungi by families and tribes, to bring
related genera together; but this action would merely hinder
someone who seldom worked with these fungi. We do keep
an index of genera, giving assignments to the categories
listed above, but, with the relatively simple system in use,
it need be referred to infrequently. Because the Ascomycetes
contain so many pathogens of economic plants, and because
many of them have conidial states, many mycologists who
are not specialists in the class must work with them occasion-
ally; and a complex arrangement consequentiy has
appreciable disadvantages. However, when the classification
particularly of the Pyrenomycetes becomes more stable, with
a single system gaining wide acceptance, we shall probably
adopt a more elaborate filing system.

For the parasitic fungi and for those saprophytes that have
a limited range of host plants, sorting by hosts is extremely
useful. Some degree of geographic sorting is generally useful
also. Accordingly specimens of a species of fungus on
different hosts are mounted on different sheets. We also use
separate sheets for specimens on a given host from Canada,

84

from the rest of North America, and from other parts of the
world.

For some of the parasitic fungi that have narrow host
ranges, it has proved a great convenience to group the
species of each genus by host family. This has been done
for the Peronosporales, Taphrinales, Ustilaginales and most
of the Uredinales. It is impractical to use such a subdivision
for the Erysiphales, because several species occur on hosts
in a number of families. Some caution is needed in deciding
how far such a subdivision may be carried. It might seem
desirable to break down large host families, such as
Gramineae, to tribes; but many parasites occur on two or
more tribes of this family. It is, however, occasionally
practicable to divide a host family. Thus we segregate
AUiaceae from Liliaceae in our arrangement of Puccinia,
for this segregate family bears a distinctive group of rusts.
Similarly Hydrangeaceae, Grossulariaceae and Parnassiaceae
are removed from Saxifragaceae, leaving a more natural unit.
When such subdivisions are made, a penciled warning is
printed on the first folder of the main family, directing
attention to the segregates. This arrangement is a great help
when one is studying all the rusts, let us say, of a particular
family of plants, or must identify a rust of some unfamiliar
complex, or again when the loan of the rusts on some partic-
ular group of hosts is requested. All the species are together
and no reference need be made to the host index. Heteroe-
cious rusts are filed under the family of the telial host in this
system. Very rarely a rust may attack plants in two families.
Then they are all filed under one family and a cross refer-
ence is put in pencil on the first folder of the second family;
for example Uromyces sparganii, which attacks Acorus and
Sparganium, is filed under Sparganiaceae, but the note "see
also Sparganiaceae" is put on the first folder of Araceae.

Insertion

Although insertion is sometimes regarded as a purely
mechanical operation, it should be done as far as possible

85

by the mycological staff rather than by technicians. In a
large herbarium it is preferable that each mycologist should
insert those groups of fungi in which he specializes. By this
means misdeterminations and invalid names are caught, and
interesting specimens occasionally come to light. It is the
specialist in a group who is most likely to be suspicious
of the correctness of a determination, perhaps because of an
unusual host or unrecorded locality; and it is he who will
recognize the significance of an important but hitherto dis-
regarded specimen.

For insertion the specimens are sorted by the major
groups recognized in the herbarium. Within these groups they
are then sorted alphabetically by genus and species, except
that those groups that are segregated by host family are
sorted accordingly before they are sorted to species. Insertion
is done on a narrow wheeled table, which is easily moved
through the aisles between the cases. The sorted specimens,
stacked in a shallow box, and a jar of mucilage with a
brush mounted adjustably in the lid are carried on the top
of the table. A supply of mounting paper and folders is put
on the lov/er shelf. It is sometimes advisable also to have
one or more reference books on the lower shelf, in order to
check host or fungus names during insertion. It is all too
easy, for example, to have a single host filed under two
names; and a substantial amount of such minor revisionary
work in the herbarium is done during insertion.

The table now in use in the Plant Research Institute is a
stainless steel hospital table 4 feet long, 20 inches wide, and
3 feet 2 inches high, with 4-inch casters. This is a stock
article whose dimensions and construction happen to be ideal
for herbarium use.

When several specimens are to be inserted in a folder,
it is advisable to work from the last to the first. By this
method there is no need to move sheets to which specimens
have just then been attached. Risk of the specimen moving
before the mucilage hardens is thus largely avoided. Before
inserting specimens the worker runs his hand over the

86

closed folder to see whether there are any low spots. Speci-
mens are then stuck to that part of the sheet insofar as
space on the appropriate sheet permits. When a new sheet
is needed it is generally best to start at the extreme top or
bottom, for there will generally be enough sheets in the
folder rather more than half full to cause the middle part
to bulk fairly high. If the first specimens are often put half
way down the sheet, not only does the middle of the folder
bulge unduly, but the sheets often will not be filled
economically; for there may be room for one but not quite
for two above and below the first one. When balance
demands that the first specimen should not be at the top or
bottom, it is put slightly more than the height of the most
commonly used packet from top or bottom; the chance of
the space being used economically is thus enhanced. Except
for long packets that nearly span the sheet, the packets are
always put within about ^ inch of the edge. Even quite
small packets are treated in this manner because a speci-
men in a packet more than half the width of the paper
may later be received from another institution. It is
exasperating to find that there is not quite enough space on
a sheet for a new specimen because an earlier one was put
i inch from the edge.

Packets are attached with the smallest practicable amount
of mucilage — a light streak about iXl inch in the middle
of the packet. The mucilage is dispensed from a jar with a
screw top, through which the aluminum handle of the brush
passes and to which it is attached by a clamping ring. The
brush is set so that it barely touches the mucilage. By this
means a controlled amount may be put on the packet with-
out the messy procedure of wiping the brush on the neck of
the jar. The hand-folded packet with flaps that are tucked
under it must, of course, be attached only at the center or it
cannot be opened. If a packet must be removed, the sheet
is turned over with the packet face down; then the packet is
held flat and the paper is bent back and pulled off it slowly,
using a sharp knife if necessary. If the tear starts to go too

87

52102-1— 7i

deeply the sheet is pulled from a different direction. By this
means all but the flimsiest packets may be removed intact.
Those packets that do tear can be patched with a square of
paper stuck over the back.*

Various attempts have been made to find a means of
attachment that will aUow packets to be removed readily.
Rubber cement was once thought to be a good solution to
the problem; but after a few years this material releases its
grip completely. Specimens have been pinned to the sheet in
at least one institution; but pin points must be exposed either
inside the packet, to the detriment of the specimen, or on the
back of the sheet, to the detriment both of the packets on
the sheet below and of the fingers of mycologists. Pinned
packets may also become loose with enlargement of the pin-
holes. Some years ago a sheet with five pockets across it was
developed at this institution. This is in effect a large-scale
version of a type of album leaf used by philatelists for storing
dupHcate stamps. It is discussed further in Chapter 3. This
type of sheet has proved impractical in the mycological her-
barium because packets containing slides or heavy specimens
easily slip out of the pockets once they become slightly
stretched. The method seems to be more suitable for bryo-
phytes, which are generally very light, than for fungi; but
whether it would be wholly satisfactory in a collection of
mosses that was being used very actively is still uncertain.
The most promising suggestion is the use of an adhesive
paper hinge somewhat like a massive stamp hinge. Although
we have not yet adopted this method, tests have indicated
that such a hinge will withstand all but extremely rough
handhng; but that for long packets one hinge should be used
near each end to reduce the risk of twisting. It is also im-
portant that the hinge be firmly attached right to the hinge
line or movement of the packets will be possible. To remove
a packet one simply slips a paper cutter under it. The practi-
cability of the hinge system will depend partly on the local
cost of the hinges and on the development of a quick and
efficient method of wetting them for use.

QQ * See addendum 9.
oo

The specimens are housed in the standard manila covers
used in the phanerogamic herbarium, 16IXlli inches.
Originally the markings were put on the lower right corner
of the cover; but it was realized some years ago that mark-
ings on the lower left comer, adjacent to the hinge, are
much more readily inspected, and all new covers are now so
marked. The permanent data are printed in india ink or black
printer's ink, and those that are subject to change are lettered
in pencil. For those who can do draftsman's script, the
quickest and most satisfactory means of lettering seems to be
the use of the finest available felt marking brush, with black
ink in the reservoir. The more time-consuming method of a
lettering guide and stylographic pen is preferred by those
without facility in printing. A disadvantage of this method is
that it requires the use of a drawing board and square; so
that folders cannot be marked during insertion, the time at
which the need for new folders generally arises. Although
neat lettering is commendable, the prime requirement is
legibility, and it is not desirable that undue time be spent
on marking folders.

Figure 13 shows some examples of marked folders.
The heavy letters represent the permanent data printed
in ink and the thin fines the temporary pencil markings.
The first example, Mycosphaerella K — ^ME, illustrates
the system used in most of the herbarium for species
represented by few specimens. Individual folders are used
for species that are heavily represented. Thus there is a
folder for Mycosphaerella ribis, a well-known parasite of
cultivated Ribes spp.; and there are several for M. tassiana
and its varieties, which occur on a wide variety of plants in
the north. The remaining examples illustrate the handling
of the species of Puccinia attacking Polygonaceae. (Puccinia,
like most genera of the rust fungi, is filed by host family.)
Each folder bears "PUCCINIA" in capitals and, below it,
"Polygonaceae" in small letters, both in ink. The first folder
contains several minor species with the initial letters A and
B, the letters being in pencil because the folder will probably

89

Mycosphaerella k- me

PuCCINilA A - B

Poly^onaceae

Puce IN I A P0LY60NI-AMPHIBII
Poly^onaceae Poly^- ci-end

Rgure 13. — Method of marking folders In mycologlcal herbarium. Bold lettering
represents permanent Ink markings; light lettering represents temporary pencil

markings.

eventually have to be split. Next comes P. bistortae, a major
species, in its own folder; as the material of this species
accumulates the folder will be spUt. All but one of the
remaining species fit in the next folder (C — S); but there

90

is one more major species, P. Polygoni-amphibii, which
already requires two folders; the first holding specimens on
hosts from Fagopyron to Polygonum c. and the second those
on Polygonum d. to the end (Polygonum spp. indet.). The
host designations are in pencil because it is anticipated that
before long the specimens will have to be divided between
three folders.

Herbarium Cases

Specimens in the National Mycological Herbarium are
housed in steel cases two shelves wide and 6 feet 7 inches
high. The top shelf in this case is about 6 feet from the
floor. The door is closed by a handle that operates bolts
at top, center and bottom, pulling the door tightly against
felt strips when it is closed. The door and walls are of
double steel sheet construction with corrugated asbestos
in the intervening space. This is a highly fire-resistant case
and has proved very satisfactory when produced by a com-
petent builder. We have stuck to the design largely because
it can be obtained from a reliable and skilled manufacturer
reasonably close to Ottawa, and one who can give prompt
service when installation, leveling or minor repairs are in
order. It is not a cheap case, but, after one experience with a
'bargain* case, we believe it to be reasonably priced.

It is doubtful whether such a case will be the best choice
under all circumstances. In areas where wood is cheap and
good cabinet work is available at reasonable cost, a suitable
plywood case painted with fire-resistant paint will probably
give as good protection to specimens at a lower cost than a
good steel case. However, the workmanship must be good if
the case is to be thoroughly insect-proof. Steel shelving is
preferable to wood, regardless of the type of case used,
because of the saving in space.

We use this steel case in two models, one with twelve
shelves each side and a shelf spacing of 6 inches, and one
with fourteen shelves at a spacing of 5i inches. The closer
spacing is preferred for the less bulky specimens, such as the

91

predominantly foliicolous fungi, because a deep stack of
such folders sags under its own weight when lifted, and
this may cause damage to the specimens. The wider spacing
is preferred for moderately bulky specimens, such as
Agaricaceae, Boletaceae, and Thelephoraceae, which are
light for a given volume. The wide shelf spacing is also
needed for the boxes that are used for the bulkiest specimens
(Polyporaceae, some Gasteromycetes, etc.).

Boxed Specimens

A system of nesting boxes, of hard cardboard reinforced
with fabric, is used for housing the bulky specimens. The
largest box is a slack fit in the shelves of the case having 6
inch shelf spacing. Three sizes of nesting boxes are fitted
into the main box; half length and half width; half length
and quarter width; and quarter length and quarter width.
All these small boxes are slightly less than half the height
of the main box; unless some of the specimens are unusually
high they may thus be fitted in two deep, with an inter-
vening cardboard divider having a finger hole near each
end. The label is placed in the box with the specimen.
Because of the possibility of specimens becoming mixed
through an accident, each specimen bears the accession
number, in india ink, located, for example, on a smooth
part of the supporting wood. A metal holder on the front
of each box carries a card indicating the range of specimens
in the box. The range may embrace several species; but a
common species will fill several boxes, and the card then
bears the name of the species and the range of accession
numbers of the contained specimens. (The wood-destroying
fungi are not segregated by hosts; thus they may be filed
strictly in numerical sequence, one box being used until
full before another is started.)*

A special problem is posed by groups of fungi most of
which will fit into packets but of which a proportion must
go in boxes. To simplify study of all the available specimens
it is preferable to house the boxed specimens in the same

Q_ * See addendum 15.

case as those that are in folders. For the rusts, which are
kept in cases with the narrow shelving, this involves cutting
a little off the top of the standard box (mostly simply done
with a handsaw) and using it without a lid. Because one may
not expect boxed specimens of a particular species, a copy
of the label, with the annotation "BOXED SPECIMEN", is
mounted on an appropriate sheet in the folder for the species.

Myxomycetes

As was pointed out above, Myxomycetes must be housed
in small boxes, for protection of their deUcate structures.
Housing these boxes so that the specimens are readily avail-
able for study presents a problem. There is a great temptation
to pack the boxes into trays or larger boxes, to save space.
SoHd packing means frequent rearrangement as the collection
grows; and it eventually makes study of the specimens so
awkward that, in practice, the collections are hardly used at
all. During a period of great space shortage, the Myxomycetes
in this institution (in boxes of various sizes and shapes)
became so packed up within nesting boxes that no serious use
was being made of them. When a specimen was received it
was simply keyed out and no comparison was made with
material on hand. To remedy this very undesirable situation,
as soon as space became available the whole collection was
reorganized. Any specimens that were in unduly deep boxes
were transferred to a standard box 2 inches long, 11 inches
wide and i inch deep. (Boxes much smaller than this size
are a nuisance, because it is almost impossible to put all the
label data legibly on the top.) This box is of white cardboard
and is made like a matchbox; that is, the box slides through
the cover. The boxes are fastened to herbarium sheets, a
single species to a sheet, and the sheets housed in standard
covers. Many boxes can be put on a sheet, although space
must be left for sliding the box out of the cover. Actually
most species occupy substantially less than a sheet. This
method is not very economical of space; but the greatly
increased accessibiUty, and consequent heightened interest in
the group, have amply repaid the time and space involved in

93

the change. In study, the box is slid out of its cover and
placed under the dissecting microscope for the preparation of
a mount. The specimen is glued, by means of its substrate,
to the bottom of the box.

Protection from Insects

Not even perfectly insect-proof cases will, alone, guarantee
freedom from insects. A case has to be opened frequently
and a closed case keeps insects in as well as out. Building
fumigations, which must, by law in many communities, be
carried out by a licensed professional fumigator, are expen-
sive. If the herbarium is housed in a large building and not
in a property segregated wing of it, the cost in cash and
work dislocation may be prohibitive. Dermestid beetles attack
fungi more than other plants. Not even frequent and regular
fumigation of the herbarium can be completely relied upon
to keep the specimens free from injury, especially in a rapidly
growing institution with specimens arriving from various
places and in all sorts of containers. Some sort of insecticide
or repellent should accordingly be kept in the cases. It is
both undesirable from the standpoint of effect on the speci-
mens and dangerous from the standpoint of staff safety to
use contact or stomach poisons. Volatile materials must
accordingly be relied upon, and the choice generally lies
between flake naphthalene and paradichlorobenzene. The
latter is somewhat the better insecticide, but it is decidedly
more volatile than naphthalene and is difficult to keep in the
cases in hot weather. The rapid loss of the vapor from a large
number of cases results in a substantial concentration in the
herbarium, where it conceivably offers a slight health hazard.
The time and cost of frequent renewals are further disadvan-
tages to its use. We therefore returned to the use of naph-
thalene some years ago; and we have suffered absolutely no
insect damage to specimens in the steel cases, although un-
worked collections in drawers or cardboard boxes suffered
considerable damage during a period of several years when
we were unable to house all such material in steel.

94

The naphthalene is held in a rectangular wire mesh basket,
12 inches long, 8 inches high and H inches deep, suspended
inside the top of the door by two flattened wire hooks, which
are clamped under the heads of two of the screws that hold
the door liner in place. This basket just clears the shelves
when the door is closed, and the space between the shelves
and the door is ample for diffusion of the naphthalene vapor
through the case. The basket is lined with two layers of
cheesecloth held in place with paper clips. The basket is
filled about 3 inches deep with naphthalene scooped from a
metal drum with a beaker or cup. A little finely powdered
naphthalene sifts through to the floor during the filling, but
after a day or two the crystals form a crust in the basket and
no more of the material falls out.

In the cases that contain only boxed specimens the
naphthalene may be sprinkled through the boxes. This
system guarantees a uniform distribution of naphthalene
vapor, but it has the slight disadvantage of introducing a
certain amount of dirt into the boxes; for the commercial
grade of naphthalene, which is usually supplied in jute
sacks, inevitably contains minor impurities. It is thus neces-
sary to clean out the accumulated debris from the boxes
every few years. We have seen no indication of inadequate
dispersal of naphthalene vapor among boxed specimens from
the wire baskets, and this method is probably to be preferred
even for such specimens.

Loan and Exchange

An increased volume of loans and exchanges has necessi-
tated the adoption of a printed triplicate form (in white,
yellow and pink) essentially the same as the one described
in Chapter 1 for the phanerogamic herbarium, but with the
appropriate return address since the two herbaria are under
separate curatorship. The white and yellow forms are sent
to the borrowing institution, the pink being held as a
record. The borrower signs and returns the yellow form to
acknowledge receipt of the specimens. When the specimens

95

are returned their receipt is noted on both the yellow and
the pink forms. The pink form is sent to the borrower to
mark completion of the transaction. The same form also
serves for notice of the shipment of exchange specimens.

For each exchange institution, records are kept in a
foolscap file cover. The correspondence and forms are kept
at the back in chronological sequence. In the front of the
folder is a sheet of ruled foolscap headed with the name
and address of the institution. The left two thirds of the
page is used for dates and other details of the exchanges.
The right one third of the sheet is ruled in three columns
headed Balance, Specimens Sent, and Specimens Received.
This sheet serves as a ledger, from which the standing of
the account is immediately visible. The files are arranged
alphabetically by name of institution in a correspondence
filing cabinet.

When specimens are to be sorted, a box is provided for
each institution and marked with its name. The destination
of a particular specimen is governed mainly by the known
interests of workers at the various institutions, the need for
wide distribution of rare or critical collections, and the
balance of the exchange account. Occasionally the distribu-
tion (for example, of isotypes) is determined in advance
by pubhshed information. The destination should then be
marked lightly in pencil on each packet as soon as the
distribution is decided.

After the lots of specimens are sorted, they are arranged
alphabetically and the name, accession number and host are
entered on card files kept for each institution. This practice
prevents the inadvertent sending of duplicates or near
duplicates to an institution. It also allows the tracing of
duplicates and informing the recipient of name changes.
However, it takes a lot of time and, if the volume of exchange
continues to increase, it will have to be abandoned in favor
of the practice that prevails in most phanerogamic herbaria,
in which surplus duplicates are simply put back into exchange
to circulate until they find a resting place.

96

Specimens must be packed in firm boxes that will not be
crushed in shipment. It is also important that the specimens
are not able to shake about in the box. A strong corrugated
carton slightly larger than the bulk of the specimens is
selected. Crumpled paper or other elastic packing is spread
over the bottom of the carton to add springiness. The
packets are laid flat on the packing in overlapping layers,
so that any uneven pressure is spread over several packets.
A thick packet may have to be balanced by several thin
ones before another layer is started. It is usually simplest
to group the packets by size to some extent, but if the
shipment is a very large one it is preferable to pack them in
something approaching alphabetical sequence. If the speci-
mens were sorted before packing this will involve little
extra work, and it will relieve the receiving institution of a
tedious task. Very large shipments are put in two or more
boxes. The boxes are always sent by parcel post rather than
express, for promptness, rehability and relative freedom from
customs difficulties. Limits for parcel post dimensions must
be observed; but in any event a small box is stronger than a
large one made of the same material. When all the specimens
are in the box, packing is added to well above the top,
and the box is closed and tied well with twine. The address
of the recipient is marked on the box. The box is then
wrapped in at least two layers of heavy brown paper and
tied with two lateral and two lengthwise pieces of cord, well
knotted. Finally the parcel is addressed and the necessary
customs forms are attached (see details in Chapter 1). The
contents are declared as "Dried Botanical Specimens — ^No
Commercial Value". Mention of fungi is apt to cause un-
founded alarms about dangerous plant pathogens and may
result in the parcels being opened by a quarantine officer.

97

CHAPTER 3
MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS

Collecting and Drying

The bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) are among the
simplest plants to collect and handle; but several points must
be observed if the collector is to make the best use of his
time and opportunities.

These plants may be collected directly into paper, cloth
or plastic bags or into folded newsprint in the field press,
provided that they come cleanly off the substrate. When they
grow directly on mineral soil they should be washed in the
nearest pond or stream before they are put into containers;
otherwise the drying soil will sift through the specimens
spoiling their appearance completely.

Collect plenty of material of each species, enough for at
least two generous packets if the specimens are to be sent
away for determination, to ensure adequate specimens for
yourself and the identifier. If exchanges are contemplated
the quantity must naturally be increased. A further reason
for collecting liberal amounts is that what seems superficially
to be a single species may actually contain one to several
inconspicuous admixed species. Even the professional bry-
ologist is accustomed to finding an extra 5 to 10 per cent
of species in the laboratory above those that he saw in the
field. The general collector, taking specimens on the basis of
habitat and gross appearance, may expect a substantially
higher proportion of unrecognized species. Ample specimens
not only ensure that most of the scarce species will be picked
up, but increase the likelihood that each will be adequately
represented.

98

There is some advantage in collecting species individually,
since only by so doing can their individual abundance in a
habitat be recorded; but the general collector, with little
knowledge of the mosses, can safely distinguish relatively
few species and should not spend too much time trying to
separate them. I recollect painstakingly segregating mosses
during my first field season in the north, only to find out
later that some of my specimens contained two to five species.
It is much more important, where time is limited, to collect
by habitat and record the habitat in detail. Mosses are par-
ticularly sensitive to moisture supply. Thus permanent and
temporary pools have different species, as do still and flowing
water or upper and lower parts of a shore. Different species
occur on the sunny and shady sides of a log or tree, and at
different heights up a tree. Shade may be important directly
as well as through its effect on moisture; thus some mosses
are adapted to dimly lit caves. The substrate is important
and should always be recorded. Different species may tavor
acidic or basic rocks, clay or sand, rough- or smooth-barked
trees. If possible record the species of tree from which a
moss is taken or include some bark or a twig. Species that
grow on twigs should be taken twig and all.

Record the habitat data of the last paragraph together
with any others that seem appropriate, and also the date
and locality. Write the data in pencil on a slip of paper and
put it in the specimen bag, or put the collection number in
or on the bag and record the data in a notebook. If all the
specimens from one habitat are put together under a single
number, as they are sorted out add supplementary letters to
denote the individual species.

Carry bags representing the individual sites and habitats
in a large plastic bag or a haversack, or in the field press if
one is being used. On return to base dry the collections
reasonably promptly. The form in which they are dried is
not critically important, for mosses can easily be relaxed, by
wetting, at any future time, for sorting, identification and
flattening. Thus the general collector, with little time to spare

99

for handling bryophytes, may be best advised to collect
directly into paper bags of 2-pound size and to dry the
specimens in these bags. If a field drier of the type described
in Chapter 1 is in use, place the open bags on the floor inside -
the drier frame. When the specimens are dry fold the tops
of the bags down, and pack the bags into a box in such a
way that they cannot shift. Any other source of steady but
gentle heat can be used for drying. Specimens cannot be dried
in plastic bags, since most of the materials used for such bags
are almost impermeable to water vapor; thus drying can
take place only through the top of the bag and will be slow
even if it can be held wide open.

If time and facilities permit, flatten the specimens some-
what, so that they may be put into packets with the minimum
or further processing. Many species may be pulled or teased
apart into a layer about i inch thick. Species that form a
compact palisade may be split apart vertically into thin sheets.
Spread prepared specimens on newsprint, either one collec-
tion to a sheet or with the collections separated by pencil
lines, and mark the specimens with their collection numbers.
Press them gently in a standard plant press (Chapter 1) and
dry them as you would other pressed specimens. The press
should be just tight enough to guarantee that the contents
will not slide about. If the amount of pressure is used that
is necessary to produce good specimens of vascular plants
the mosses may be so flattened that diagnostic characters
such as stem shape are altered, and they may be so matted
together that examination and the sorting out of mixtures
are rendered more difficult. If so few mosses are taken that
it is undesirable to devote a special press to them simply
place them between felts in a dry place, with a smaU weight
on top of the stack, and change the felts every day. Stack
the dried specimens in their papers and bundle them firmly
between corrugated cardboards, to prevent them from slip-
ping. The extra time and space involved tends to discourage
the general coUector who is living in camp far from labora-
tory facilities. If he is in a relatively inaccessible region to

100

which he is unUkely to return, he must make the best use of
his time and is advised to stick to the paper bag method,
which is quicker and less prone to accidents.

Processing Dried Specimens

Place the dried and identified specimens in paper packets
about 5iX42 inches, of the type described in Chapter 1.
Type the data on a label and stick the label to the face
of the packet. The packets may be either mounted on
standard sheets, as described in Chapter 2 for fungi, or
filed on edge in drawers. The latter method conserves some
space and is quite convenient for a small collection; but
it has its disadvantages. All the packets should be almost
exactly the same size, which involves repacketing many
specimens received from other institutions. This method also
makes it more difficult to see at a glance what the recorded
distribution of a species may be.

A method of mounting that has been tried with some suc-
cess at the Plant Research Institute is the use of herbarium
sheets with pockets across them into which the specimens
are tucked (W. G. Dore. Herbarium sheets for filing
mosses. Bryologist 56: 297. 1953). This device is rather
similar to one used by philatelists for storing duplicate stamps
visibly and accessibly. The herbarium pocket sheet, which,
incidentally, was developed quite independently of the
philatelists' device, has, of course, much larger pockets. Five
pockets, formed of strips 2i inches deep, run across the
sheet. They are glued along the bottom 3/16 inch and the
ends are secured by being folded over in a tab i inch
long and glued to the back of the sheet. The lowest pocket
is flush with the bottom of the sheet and there is a clear
space between the pockets of I inch; this spacing leaves
21 inches above the top pocket, just allowing insertion in it
of a packet 4i inches high. If specimens are in various sizes
of packet it is preferable to put smaller ones at the top.
Very large packets must, of course, be put in lower pockets.

101

This method of filing combines visibility with flexibility.
A redetermined specimen is simply lifted from its pocket
and tucked into its appropriate place. In a small collection
different species of a genus may be grouped together without
compromising the future adoption of a more elaborate filing
system. You may start with one specimen of each of three
species. As you acquire more specimens of one of them
you will assign them to a separate sheet. Eventually geo-
graphic segregation of each species may be adopted. On the
face of it this seems to be an ideal system of filing; but we
are not yet prepared to grant it unqualified approval. As
noted in Chapter 2, under Insertion, these sheets were
tried quite extensively in the mycological herbarium and
found unsatisfactory. Although the packets jam tightly into
the pockets at first, the pockets inevitably stretch in time.
This slight loosening may not be very serious with moss
packets, which are generally very light and may stay in
position when the sheets are tilted; but some mycological
specimens are relatively heavy, and in this institution a
slide is often included in the packet. Such packets cascade
out of their pockets if, as is usual in a quick search, the
sheets are turned hke the pages of a book rather than kept
strictly horizontal. The latter method of handling is particu-
larly tedious in a long search, for, to keep the sheets in
sequence, each sheet, after scrutiny, must be placed beneath
the sheets already examined; or else the whole sequence
must be reversed after the examination is completed. Such a
procedure quickly causes the sequence to become badly
muddled. The pocket sheets will probably prove unsatis-
factory when the moss collection is in more active use than
at present; but the system deserves further trial.

102

CHAPTER 4

LICHENS

Collecting

Collecting lichens is commonly considered so simple that
information on the subject is scarce. Consequently the few
important precautions are often overlooked. The following
advice is intended for the beginner and the general col-
lector. More-detailed instructions will be found in a forth-
commg publication by W. A. Weber and S. Shushan (Field
and Herbarium Techniques in Lichenology. University of
Colorado Studies, in preparation).*

For collecting purposes, lichens are conveniently divided
into three groups. Crustose lichens grow flat and are inti-
mately bonded to the substrate. Foliose lichens have leaflike
blades that are more or less flat on the substrate and often
have multiple connection to it although they are not insepa-
rably united to it. Fruticose lichens have a small basal
attachment and a stemlike thallus that is often freely
branched.

Lichens may be carried in the field by any convenient
means, but if rock lichens are taken in numbers the sub-
stantial weight makes a good-sized rucksack essential.
Always collect species individually. If they occur so mixed
that they cannot easily be separated, collect enough of the
mixture to make an adequate specimen of each.

Although ample specimens should be taken, you are
advised against removing far more than you need, especially
of crustose species and especially in populous and well-
botanized regions. This may seem to be a very trivial point;

* See addendum 16. ^ ^n^

but lichens grow extremely slowly and rare species may
easily be eliminated from an area by overcollecting. The
dressed stone of Fort Prince of Wales, at the mouth of the
Churchill River, built between 1732 and 1771, is still much
more lightly lichenized than the native rock. I also recall a
foot trail through Cladonia parkland just inside tree line,
which had been abandoned because it ran between two spruce
trees that had grown together. It looked as fresh as the new
trail, but examination of the tree branches showed that it
had been abandoned for at least 20 years. Even much
further south there are rock cuts and slides that remain bare
for many years.

Crustose Lichens

Collect crustose lichens wet or dry and, to prevent damage
from occurring as they are carried home, wrap them
individually in tissue paper as they are collected. Toilet
tissue is the cheapest and most convenient wrapping material.
Never wrap lichens in absorbent cotton; it becomes tangled
in the specimens and causes more damage than it prevents.

Crustose lichens must obviously be collected with a portion
of the substrate. If the substrate is a tree trunk or a large
branch, cut off a section with a chisel or a heavy knife. If the
lichen is on a twig, cut off a section of the twig with a
knife or pruning shears; the twig may later be split if it is
too bulky to fit easily in a packet. If the species is growing
on soil, carefully slide a large knife under it, using a sawing
motion to reduce the needed pressure and minimize the
risk of the specimen crumbling, and lift the whole thing
onto toilet paper. Wrap it and put it in a packet or shallow
box.

Crustose lichens give most trouble when they are on rock,
for they must be collected with a hammer and cold chisel.
If the substrate is sedimentary rock you will have little
trouble removing thin but suflSciently large flakes of stone,
with a substantial portion of the lichen. However, to secure

104

a reasonably large patch of a species growing upon igneous
rock without taking an inordinate weight of rock requires
skill and practice. One hint is offered to those unfamiliar with
the use of a cold chisel. Do not grip it rigidly with all four
fingers, but hold it, as low down on the shank as practicable,
with the third and fourth fingers doing most of the work and
the first two fingers slack. Then if, as may happen sooner or
later, the hammer glances off the chisel, the first finger or
knuckle gives under the blow and little damage is done. A
heavy hammer of about 5 pounds and chisels about 12 inches
long are sometimes recommended. This recommendation is
perfectly sound to the extent that it makes it easier to get
large flakes of rock instead of Uttle chips, and it is satisfac-
tory for the collector who expects to work within a few
hundred yards of his car. But the carrying of such tools is
too much to expect of the general collector, who may cover
many miles on foot in the day's work and be loaded with
miscellaneous equipment. A 6-inch chisel with a i-inch blade
may be used if weight is at a premium. If no digger is carried
for general botanical collecting, the standard pick-headed
geological hammer of 2-pound weight is recommended.
Otherwise a ball-peen hammer may be preferred; it is more
compact to carry and has a better face for use on a cold
chisel.

It is very important that ample material be taken, prefer-
ably about enough to cover a card measuring 3x5 inches.
More should be taken to supply the identifier if the specimens
are sent away for determination. Secure part of the edge as
well as the interior of the colony. Distmctive characters may
be obscured in small fragments.

Foliose Lichens

Foliose lichens are collected much like crustose species, it
usually being desirable to include some of the substrate.
However, a compromise is necessary when the lichen is on
a rock, where the attempt to take the underlying rock with

105

it may result in the specimen being severely broken up. Then
it is better to cut the specimen away and record the type
of rock.

Fruticose Lichens

Fruticose lichens are handled somewhat like mosses
because the growth tends to be vertical rather than horizontal.
They are usually removed quite easily from the substrate,
but take care not to cut off the base of the plant. Dig up
species growing on soil and tap the soil off the base.

Foliose and fruticose lichens usually need to be flattened;
otherwise they make bulky specimens and are inclined to
shatter in the packet. If preferred, pack them into boxes and
later flatten them in the laboratory. If possible, collect them
when they are moist and pliable. In dry weather they become
extremely brittle, so handle them as little as possible in this
condition. The general collector can usually so arrange his
program that he collects lichens during or soon after rain,
fog or heavy dew. If they must be collected in dry weather
first relax them by sprinkling with water. A polyethylene
squeeze-bottle allows water to be applied economically, a
point of some importance if you are collecting far from a
source of water. Spread foUose and fruticose species on news-
print and carry them in the field press, but be sure to divide
them into portions that will fit into a packet before they are
dried; if separated when dry they will break up badly. Press
them gently, as you would press mosses.

Drying

To prevent growth of mold, dry lichens thoroughly as soon
as they are brought back to the laboratory or field base.
Those in presses are dried by any of the means described in
Chapter 1. Wrapped specimens may be spread out to dry
over any available source of gentle heat. Various means of
drying are described in Chapters 1 and 2. If no heat is
available spread the specimens out in a warm, well-ventilated
place, until they are thoroughly dry.

106

Labeling

Full label data should be included with the specimen or in
the field notebook. In addition to the date, loc^ty, collector,
and collection number if used, describe the substrate and
habitat carefully. K the substrate is soil, give the type: sand,
sandy loam, clay loam, clay, humus or bog. Specimens on
trees will include some of the bark or wood, as a rule, but
the identity is generally much less obvious from a small
sample than from the tree. Identify the tree, for some tree
lichens are extremely specific in their requirements. The
distance above the ground may also be significant for tree
lichens. Identify rock substrates as fully as possible. The
local geological sheet will often supply or confirm this infor-
mation; but if you cannot do your own identifications, ask a
geologist to help you. Igneous rocks that to the uninitiated
pass as granite may contain a bewildering array of included
minerals, which may not all harbor lichens to the same
degree. Give pertinent data on slope, direction of exposure
of tree trunks, cliffs or steep slopes, position relative to high
water mark on stream banks, distance from high-tide mark
on sea coasts (species may vary in tolerance to salt spray),
proximity to spray from waterfalls or to seepage water, or
any other local factor. Also, record the approximate altitude
in mountain country.

Since many microhabitats may be visited in the course of
a day, it may be necessary to record the habitat of each speci-
men as it is collected. If the details are put in the field note-
book and only the number put in with the specimen much
time may be saved in the field; a specimen may be written
up by referring back to an earlier collection and noting only
how it differs. However, full field labels save some time later
when the final labels are typed.

Processing Dried Specimens

Put foliose and fruticose lichens directly into herbarium
packets such as those described in Chapters 1 and 2. Stick
crustose species to a piece of thin card very slightly smaller

107

than the inside dimensions of the packet. This practice gives
support to a fragile substrate, which in disintegrating would
cause the specimen to break up. It also prevents the speci-
men from being damaged by abrasion due to it sliding
about in the packet.

Whether the packeted specimens are mounted on
herbarium sheets or stored in filing drawers depends upon
the scope of the herbarium and the preference of the curator.
The arguments are very much the same as those that apply
to fungi and mosses. For a discussion of them the reader
is referred to Chapters 2 and 3, particularly the former.

108

CHAPTER 5

ALGAE

Fresh-water Algae
Collecting

Fresh-water algae are almost all microscopic. They are
abundant in almost all bodies of water, but the species vary
enonnously with the environment. Thus it is important to
record whether the water was standing or flowing, and
whether the underlying rock was basic or acidic. Although
such algae will generally be sought in lakes, ponds and
rivers, they occur also in soil, on moist rocks, on tree trunks,
even on or in living leaves, and in the superficial layers of
mountain snow fields where a common species causes the
phenomenon of pink snow. However, the general collector,
to whom these brief notes are addressed, will make most of
his collections in bodies of free water. From the collector's
viewpoint these algae fall into two classes: the filamentous
or colonial forms, which are readily picked up and dropped
into vials; and the free-floating unicellular species (plank-
ton), which must be secured with the aid of a net of bolting
silk or nylon.

Put specimens into small vials, preferably about i inch
in diameter and li to 2 inches high. Glass vials should be
corked, since screw tops seldom give a perfect seal. Small
vials of flexible plastic, with a press-on lid attached by a
hinge, are now available. These seem to give a perfect seal
and are very convenient. They also obviate those unpleasant
accidents that involve broken glass to be removed from one's
pockets and the trickling of preserving fluid down one's leg.

109

There is no need to use large bottles because a large amount
of material, often containing fifty species or more, can be
concentrated in 1 to 2 cc. of water.

Formaldehyde or alcohol may be used as the preserving
fluid. Use formaldehyde at 4 per cent strength or slightly
over. The concentrated solution is nominally of 37 per cent
strength, but is generally somewhat weaker after any great
period in storage. It is best, therefore, to use 1 part of the
concentrated solution to about 7 parts of water. Carry the
saturated solution (commercial formalin) in a small bottle,
preferably one with a dropper in the screw cap. Put the algae
in water up to half the height of the vial. Add formalin to
I of the height of the vial, and fill the vial right to the neck
with water. If much air space is left, the surging of the
liquid as the vials are carried may damage delicate speci-
mens. The plastic vials are easily capped, but it may be hard
to push a cork in against the pressure of a full vial. This
difficulty may be overcome by putting a thin string into the
neck of the vial, inserting the cork beside it, and pulling
out the string and pushing down the cork simultaneously.
Use alcohol at about 50 per cent strength. Fill the vial
slightly less than half full with water and algae, and fill to the
neck with 95 per cent alcohol.

Pick up filamentous algae with forceps or on a thin twig.
You can use your fingers, of course, but it may not be as
easy to insert the mass into the vial. Scrape off attached
filamentous forms with a knife, or drop small pieces of stem
or leaf, with the algae attached, into the vial. Diatoms are
often clustered on stems of aquatic plants and are similarly
treated. Aquatic larvae of some insects are commonly full
of algae; up to 30 species have been recorded in a single
larva. Tadpoles ingest large numbers of algae; and a great
concentration of diatom shells may be found in their
intestinal tracts, although the more delicate forms are
generally broken. Some blue-green algae form a bloom on
the surface of the water. Skim these off into a jar and

110

concentrate further by decanting or pipetting out the top
quarter inch or so.

Apart from what may be taken from intestinal tracts,
plankton can only be collected adequately by means of a
plankton net. This is a conical net of fine bolting silk or
nylon that is towed very slowly behind a rowboat. The net
should have a mouth diameter of about 12 inches and a
length of about 36 inches. The mouth is fastened to a ring
of brass or other relatively noncorrosive metal from which
three cords lead forward to the towrope. A cotton sleeve
on the mouth of the net snaps or buttons round the ring,
allowing the net to be removed readily. The net tapers to a
rounded apex, to allow it to be turned inside out readily
for emptying. When the net has been towed far enough to
gather an adequate haul (the distance will vary enormously
with the body of water and the season), lift it up and allow
the water to drain out. Dip out the concentrate in the end
of the net into vials or turn out the contents of the net,
wash them and shake them into the vial. Fill the vials and
cap them as described above. When no boat is available ox
the small size of the ponds does not justify the use of one, a
smaller net, about 6 inches in diameter and mounted on a
long handle, may be used from the shore.

Plankton nets should be washed well in clean fresh water
immediately after use, and should be dried in the shade and
out of contact with iron or steel. Rust spots in a silk net
soon develop into holes. Never let a net dry unwashed
because the algal jelly will clog it. Small holes in a net may
be repaired with a little clear nail lacquer, an invaluable
material for miscellaneous minor repairs in field and labora-
tory. For this type of repair there is some risk in using
cellulose cements, which dry glass hard, since the patch may
do more damage than it cures.

The few macroscopic fresh-water algae are handled like
marine algae.

The information to be recorded includes the date, locality,
name or description of the body of water, substrate of

111

attached forms, physical properties of the water body (size,
depth, current, etc.), underlying rock if known, presence or
absence of overhanging foliage or emergent vegetation. The
pH of the water may be measured to advantage if equipment
is available; but it should be noted that the otherwise con-
venient indicator papers may prove very unreliable if the
water is cold. Since it is usually impossible to include all the
data on a small label that can be put in the vial, it is usually
best to include a slip bearing the collection number in pencil
(never in ink unless india ink is used), and to record the
data in the field note book. The working method will, of
course, be varied according to the number of collections
being taken.

Processing

The laboratory processing of the microscopic algae is so
remote from the handling of most botanical specimens that
no attempt is made to cover it in this manual. As the general
collector is not greatly concerned with it, the interested
student is referred to textbooks of phycology.

Marine Algae
Collecting

One who collects marine algae will vary his methods with
the time and equipment that are available, as well as the
local habitats. Marine plankton are collected and preserved
exactly as fresh- water plankton; but even in calm weather
only inshore collecting can be attempted from a rowboat. A
thorough job requires the services of an oceanographic vessel,
and such collecting is beyond the scope of this manual. The
general collector will usually Umit himself to attached macro-
scopic forms that he can find in the tidal zone. In warm areas
he may use a diving mask for taking specimens in shallow
water. Cold water calls for a frogman's suit, which may be
beyond his means.

Unlike the fresh-water algae, the attached marine algae
are almost all large enough to be collected as individual

112

plants. The collector accordingly collects by the species
rather than by the site or habitat, and the procedure some-
what resembles the collecting of flowering plants. The plants
vary from very small but individually visible species, of which
many may be put on a sheet, to huge kelps many yards long,
of which only small portions can be taken.

A rocky coast provides the best collecting, a boulder
beach is next best, and clean sand beaches or muddy shores
are very unproductive. Collecting is, of course, done at low
tide. If you happen to start work during a period of neap
tides, concentrate on the intertidal zone at first, distinguishing
between open rock, which is left dry, and rock pools, which
remain full. The pools may contain species that otherwise
occur only below low tide level and deserve careful attention.
If you must enter the pools wear either waders or a pair of
canvas shoes with stout soles. Even a barnacle cut can be
decidedly painful; but if you step barefoot on a sea urchin
your collecting season may end abruptly.

If possible, return at extreme low water of a spring tide
to collect, in waders or running shoes, in the shallow water
just below the tidal limit. Various small species may be
found here that do not occur in the actual tidal zone; but
they may be hidden among larger plants, and no time can
be lost in securing them before the tide flows again.

The larger seaweeds are tough and leathery, and may be
handled freely. A heavy knife may be used to pry the hold-
fast from the rock. Try to remove it intact, although it may
have to be split lengthwise if it is massive. Handle the
smaller, lacy species carefully. Put them directly into jars
or wrap them in paper well soaked in sea water. Keep all
specimens as cool as possible and keep them thoroughly
wet with sea water until the time comes for preserving or
drying. Collect several specimens of all the apparently dis-
tinct species, first, because some species are indistinguish-
able to the naked eye, and secondly, because some species
have male, female and asexual plants that can be distinguished
only under the microscope. Only by taking plenty of plants

113

can you have a reasonable expectation of including com-
plete material of all species. Some very small species grow
in sand or mud. Collect these in groups, wash them as well
as possible in sea water, and wrap them in wet paper.

The large kelps usually grow in quite deep water. It may
be possible to gather some of these from a boat with a
grapnel, but often they may be found after a gale at the high
tide mark. A little study will indicate particular spots where
wind and current tend to bring the kelps ashore. Such speci-
mens are satisfactory if they are collected promptly; but
avoid any that are bleached or discolored. The very large
species cannot possibly be preserved whole. Take a section
of the blade, part of the stalk (split lengthwise), and a
sector of the holdfast. Any fruiting structures should also
be included. Even such partial specimens may have to be
mounted eventually on two sheets. Record the total dimen-
sions of stalk and blade for eventual inclusion on the label,
before cutting up the specimen.

Preserving

Press freshly collected specimens and dry them at once,
if time and facilities permit, or preserve them in various
ways for future treatment. The latter method saves some
work for the collector in the field, but the total work to be
done on the specimens is greater than with immediate
preparation.

K the specimens must be shipped unmounted, the col-
lector has three choices. In the first method the plants are
spread out in a well- ventilated room until nearly dry; then,
while they are still flexible, they are folded to fit into a rigid
shipping box. The drying is then completed. Species that are
brittle when dry must be relaxed by covering them with
wet paper for an hour or two or putting them out on a dewy
night. The slightly phable specimens, dry or relaxed, are
packed into the box, labels being included with the individual
collections. If the specimens have been relaxed, dry the box
thoroughly in the sun or over a source of gentle heat. This

114

is the simplest method of shipping and is the most economical
if the specimens must be sent by air; but the specimens
should be well surrounded with springy packing material;
and great care must later be taken in unpacking and relaxing
them, because those that are brittle may easily be broken.

In the second method the specimens are partially dried
and are layered in plenty of coarse salt. Brine will generally
weep out of the specimens after a few hours or days. It
should be drained off and more salt added before the speci-
mens are packed for shipping in leak-proof containers. This
is essentially the method that is used for wet skins of birds
and mammals. This method was until recently disparaged by
phycologists, probably because the draining and resalting
was omitted, a step that is also often necessary with large
skins. Prof. W. R. Taylor has used the method, thus modified,
very successfully even in the tropics, and has found many
species in good condition after 10 years. There are a few
species for which it is not very successful; but, all in all,
it is perhaps the best method of prevervation.

The third and best-known method of preservation is by
formaldehyde. To a gallon of sea water add half a pint of
commercial formalin (37 per cent formaldehyde). Place the
specimens, without crowding, in this solution for a few days
until penetration and complete fixation are assured. Then
pack the specimens closely, in fresh solution, into cans
that can be soldered shut. Wrap small and deUcate speci-
mens in cloth bags. Specimens with attached rocks or other
heavy objects should be segregated and the rocks well
wrapped in rag. If specimens from different sites are put in
one container, use a separate cloth bag, each with its label
inside it, for each site. Leave a little air space at the top
so that expansion under heat will not rupture a seam. Leave
the newly soldered cans inverted for a day or two to make
sure the seal is perfect. The recent development of water-
and vapor-proof pliable plastic films in sheet, roll, and bag
form has made it possible to cut down the weight and bulk
of preserved specimens. Cans may still be advisable for large

115

kelps with massive stalks; but for smaller specimens it is a
simple matter to remove them from the original preservative,
dip them in fresh solution and put them directly into plastic
bags with heat-sealed seams. Tie the tops tightly, fold over
and retie, and put several bags, each with its contained
label, in an outer bag.

As with all botanical collections, each specimen should be
accompanied by a label that includes all pertinent informa-
tion: date, location, collector, collection number, substrate,
position in relation to high or low tide level, exposure, and
any special habitat data such as occurrence in tidal pools or
in river estuaries. For the last an estimate of the salinity of
the water is desirable. Labels that are to be included with
preserved specimens should be written in black pencil or
India ink (never ordinary ink) on heavy bond paper. In a
large can include at least two labels in case one is damaged.
If the number is conspicuously marked on back and front
of the label, and the data are fully recorded in the field
notebook, a partly illegible label will cause no harm.

Mounting

The specimens, fresh or preserved, are eventually mounted,
for study and storage, on standard herbarium sheets of high-
quaUty heavy paper. Rough-dried specimens must be soaked
before they can be spread, and the formalin must be washed
out of preserved specimens with several changes of fresh
water. Salted specimens are also mounted from fresh water.
However, fresh specimens are mounted directly from sea
water.

Coarse specimens need little care. Spread them out between
muslin or cheesecloth (to which they do not stick strongly),
and then enclose them in newsprint to minimize staining of
the felts. It will be found by experience that some species do
not stick to newsprint; and for such species the cloth may
be omitted. Then, put the specimens in a press, with venti-
lators separating the felts, and dry them exactly as described
in Chapter 1. If no adequate source of heat is available,

116

change the felts as soon as the surplus water has been blotted
from bulky specimens; otherwise the ventilators may soften
and the corrugations collapse. Plants longer than the news-
print must be folded with the minimum possible overlap, or
cut into sections if folding proves awkward. Prune dense,
bushy specimens judiciously to reduce their bulk. Mount the
dried specimens exactly like vascular plants (Chapter 1).

DeUcate feathery or filamentous species must be handled
differently. They are so flexible that surface tension bunches
the filaments together when you lift them from the water;
and you cannot spread them out without damaging them
seriously. Accordingly, spread them in shallow trays of water
over a sheet of mounting paper, then lift out the paper with
the plant in position on it. In this process pressing and
mounting are a single procedure. If any of the plants are
large you will need a tray larger than a standard herbariunc
sheet (16iXlH inches). A large photographic tray is
ideal. If the specimens are small float them on half or quarter
sheets. A smaller tray will then be satisfactory or, at a pinch,
a washbasin or dishpan will serve. Quarter or half sheets
should be of thin paper, provided that it is of good quality,
for they will eventually be mounted on whole sheets for
insertion in the herbarium. Put half an inch or more of water
in the tray; fresh water is generally used, but it is recom-
mended that some salt be added if deUcate pink species are
being handled, since the pigment tends to leach out in fresh
water. Put a piece of glass, sheet metal or water-resistant
hardboard, cut sufficiently smaller than the tray so that the
fingers can be sHpped under it, in the bottom of the tray and
put the mounting paper on top of it. Write the collection
number or other means of identification in pencil on the
sheet before putting it into the water. Now spread out the
specimen over the paper, arranging it so as to eliminate
wrinkles and overlaps. The arranging may be done with
forceps and a water-color brush; or water may be swished
across the frond with an eye dropper or some such bulb
pipette. When the specimen is arranged as desired in the
middle of the paper, gently raise the sheet, bringing the paper

117

and the specimen with it. Avoid sudden movements, which
will set up wave motion in the water. Every collector will
develop his own technique. My preference, in floating aquatic
plants generally, is to raise the end of the sheet bearing the
base of the plant slightly ahead of the opposite end. As soon
as the base emerges from the water it is anchored. Then, if
you are a trifle overeager and the water rushes off the sheet
too fast, the branches or filaments tend to be pulled out
straight and the risk of disturbance is minimized. Once the
specimen is out of the water hold the sheet vertically by one
comer for a few seconds to drain off surplus water. Then
peel the paper away from the supporting sheet and lay it on
a felt. Lay a sheet of cheesecloth or washed (unsized)
muslin over it, to prevent sticking, and put another felt on
top. Build up layers of felt — drier — felt — mounting paper
and specimen — cheesecloth — felt — drier until all specimens
are accounted for.

Close the completed press in the normal fashion, tighten it
under moderate pressure and put it on the drier. If no heat is
available change the felts periodically and put the press in
the warmest and best- ventilated place available. When the
specimens are dry gently peel off the cheesecloth. The speci-
men will adhere to the paper by virtue of its mucilaginous
coating. Occasionally the specimen does not stick satisfac-
torily but tends to come away with the cloth. This happens
most often with preserved specimens, which constitutes an-
other argument in favor of the direct mounting of fresh speci-
mens whenever possible. If the specimen cannot readily be
detached from the cloth and the loose portions refastened
with adhesive, resoak it and remount it. When this difficulty
occurs, and with species for which experience suggests that it
may occur, cover the specimen with wax paper instead of
cloth. Few marine algae seem to stick seriously to wax paper
although a few sticky flowering plants do so. The only dis-
advantage of the wax-paper method is that it nearly doubles
the drying time because almost all the moisture must be with-
drawn from one side of the specimen. When collecting is
heavy and drying facilities are limited this may be a serious

118

disadvantage; but if only a few algae are being handled in
the course of general collecting the delay is of no significance
and wax paper may be used routinely.

Whenever possible some of the fruiting portion of speci-
mens of the more delicate species should be mounted on mica
sheets for later microscopic study. Press them under cloth
like the normal specimens. Neatly cut mica squares were
formerly available from mail-order stores, for use in the
windows of old-fashioned cook-stoves or heaters. Such sheets
are probably now almost unobtainable commercially; but
mica occurs in many areas, and a geologist will usually be
able to tell you where you may get chunks from which sheets
may be split as needed. Professor Taylor emphasizes the de-
sirability of splitting (or respHtting) the sheet just before
use; if this is not done the mica may not accept water and
the specimen will not adhere well. Professor Taylor has not
found a plastic sheet that is a satisfactory substitute. If some
such material as cellulose acetate sheet must be used, he
suggests that the sheet be heavy enough to be as rigid as the
mica sheet, and that it have a fine mat surface. Otherwise
the specimen will certainly peel off.

119

ADDENDA

1. (p. 22) Only very gentle heat should be used with waxed paper;
otherwise, wax may transfer to the specimens. Alternatively thin sheet
plastic may be substituted for waxed paper. However, any unfamiliar
material should be tested on a small scale, to make certain that it does
not bond to the plants. See addendum 14.

2. (p. 26) A correspondent complained of the lack of recom-
mendation for the use of plastic bags in collecting. Their use was
recommended under circumstances that preclude the field press,
particularly for compact and sturdy arctic-alpine plants. Like many
botanists, I take such bags with me on outings not primarily intended
for collecting; but their wholesale use for delicate plants and in warm
weather reduces the quality of the specimens.

3. (p. 31) Mr. K. W. Spicer found small elastic bands to be a
good substitute for slotted paper to hold folded plants for pressing.
The bands are easy to carry and quick to use. They should be large
enough so that leaves or culms are not bunched tightly together.

4. (p. 40) Catalytic tent heaters have also come into use as a
source of heat, but must be used with caution. They may give exces-
sive heat for some drier frames because they are not as easy to control
as a lantern; and they are bulkier, use a fuel with a low flash point,
and are more tedious to light. They sometimes burn irregularly after
the first season.

5. (p. 43) An amateur collector who may wish to send one or a
few specimens for identification should determine each specimen as
well as he can; he should then check with the botanist, before sending
any specimens, to make sure he is in a position to deal with them.
The collector should keep duplicates marked with the same collection
number, and pack the specimens carefully as described on p. 57.

6. (p. 46) Several herbaria use slight modifications of Archer's
formula. Rollins (Rhodora 57:294-299. 1955) gave the following as
in use at Gray Herbarium:

Ethocel (7 cups) ca 600 g

Dow Resin 75 g

Methanol 220 cm^

Toluene 880 cm-^

120

This preparation is much thicker than the original, which is found
very satisfactory in our institute, l)ut perhaps dries faster. The same
paper gives other hints on the technique. The bead of plastic left on
the nozzle apparently forms as effective a seal as the pin. If, after
prolonged disuse, the nozzle becomes solidly plugged, it may be soaked
in the solvent.

7. (p. 46) One reviewer complained that sticking specimens to the
sheet hinders use of them. Well, it also hinders abuse of them, as well
as the inevitable damage that even the most careful packing and
handling causes. It is the curator's responsibility to ensure that speci-
mens remain in usable condition for many students. If each of six
students takes a fragment for himself, there will be little of value
left. Provided that upper and lower leaf surfaces are visible, and that
loose inflorescences are put in packets (pp. 2, 47), the criticism is
not valid.

8. (p. 47) Water paste does not hold woody stems and thick, coria-
ceous leaves satisfactorily. Plastic stripping, preferably the more dilute
formulation, may be applied to the undersurfaces of the specimen,
which is then held down on the sheet with weights, and plastic strips
are run across the stem at strategic points. The specimen must be left
under pressure longer than with water paste — for fully half a day.
Because of the difficulty in detaching leaves, it is particularly important
that both leaf surfaces be visible, and that leaves and inflorescences
be included in packets. About one-third of our phanerogamic sheets
are now mounted in this way. See addendum 10.

Even small plants should be mounted with their length along the
sheet because normal handling causes sheets to flex more crosswise
than lengthwise, and transverse stems are liable to be loosened or
broken.

9. (pp. 47, 77, 88) About the time this book was published we
adopted the use of synthetic resin glues in small flexible plastic dispen-
sers with self-sealing nozzles (for example. Carter's Nu-Glu), both for
attaching labels and for attaching packets to the sheets, in the myco-
logical herbarium. The narrowest possible bead of glue is drawn along
the top back edge of the label, and the label is then put in place and
wiped from end to end with a cleansing tissue. In attaching packets a
narrow bead less than 3 cm long is drawn on the center of the packet.
The glue spreads to about 5 mm wide when the packet is appressed to
the sheet. For very long packets a 2 cm bead may be applied toward
each end. The bond is extremely strong and permanent, and the glue
does not stain the paper; but if redisposition is necessary, the packet is
easily removed with a knife or by folding the sheet back and pulling it.

121

So little glue is needed and the application is so rapid that the method
is economical despite the high initial cost of the glue. The small dis-
pensers can be refilled from large containers to reduce costs. In
phanerogamic herbaria in which plastic stripping is routinely used, the
label is most conveniently attached by a narrow bead of plastic and
put under only very gentle pressure; but the more dilute formula is
advisable. See addendum 6.

10. (p. 48) A tall mobile rack with three tiers of 26 shelves for
drying specimens mounted or reinforced with plastic was described by
W. J. Cody in a leaflet (New herbarium equipment, Canada Department
of Agriculture, 1966), obtainable from the Plant Research Institute,

11. (p. 52) W. J. Cody (see addendum 10) has described a set of
mobile shelves with spacing as in the herbarium cabinets. These units
are a great convenience in moving quantities of specimens between
preparation areas or offices and the herbarium.

12. (p. 52) It has been reported that naphthalene and paradichloro-
benzene may cause softening of the now widely used plastic stripping.
Possibly the reported softening occurred only when specimens were
inserted before the stripping was allowed to harden adequately. Rollins
(Rhodora 57:298. 1955) noted no effect of a high concentration of
PDB in one test. We have very few plastic-stripped specimens in the
mycological herbarium, but examination of two specimens after 8 and
10 years in a moderate concentration of naphthalene revealed no
damage. Dr. Parmelee has recently run short-term tests with stripped
sheets allowed to dry for 24 hours before insertion in cases with
normal and saturation levels (subliming freely on the inside of door
and walls) of naphthalene. Again no indication of softening could be
detected.

In the meantime insecticidal strips were developed for insertion in
cases, and Archer (Science 116:223-234. 1952) also developed an
effective aerosol bomb for treating cases individually. Unfortunately
these methods depend on persistent insecticides that are now widely
banned. Consequently, no completely satisfactory protection can yet
be recommended.

13. (p. 59) Because of public interest in the fleshy fungi, and an
educational obligation in connection with mushroom poisoning. Dr.
Parmelee has recently started a collection of plastic models of macro-
fungi, to supplement dried specimens and illustrations. (See J. A.
Parmelee. 1971. Models of fungi for public display. Greenhouse-Gar-
den-Grass 10(4):73-77,)

122

14. (p. 80) Cellophane envelopes have limited life. We v^'ere
accordingly persuaded to change to polyethylene envelopes, which
have an indefinite life. These envelopes are excellent for fungi such as
smuts and rusts, but some dried cultures bond so tightly to the plastic
that they cannot be removed for microscopic examination.

15. (p. 92) Dr. Parmelee hac recently introduced boxes half the
standard height, but the same width and length, which hold a single
layer of the small nesting boxes. These half-size boxes seem to be more
convenient in some respects, but it is too early to state whether they
will meet with full acceptance. Some deep boxes will still be needed
for very large specimens. It should have been made clear in the original
edition that the outer boxes have lids, but that the nesting boxes
do not.

16. (p. 103) This publication unfortunately did not materialize.

123

INDEX

Page

Accessioning 80

Adhesives 45

Algae, fresh-water 109-112

marine, collecting 112-114

marine, mounting 116-119

marine, preserving 114-116

Alpine collecting 7, 14, 25-26

Altimeter 9

Aquatic plants 21-22

Arctic collecting 25-26, 63

Ascomycetes 62-63

Attaching packets to sheet 87-88

Books, care of, in field 10

Boots 16

Boxed specimens 92-93

Brush for mounting 45

Bryophytes, collecting 98-101

filing 101-102

Carex 50

Cases, herbarium 51, 91

Castilleja, blackening of 41

Cellophane envelopes 80

Cleaning specimens 3

Clothing, special 16-20

water-repellent 17

windproof 1 8-20

Cold chisel 105

Collecting equipment 8-15

Collection numbers 4, 59, 81

Color photographs of disease specimens 74

Combined collecting of vascular plants and fungi 60

Coprophilous fungi 72

Cordyceps 70

Cortinarius, gill color of 66

Crataej^us 3

Cruciferae 2

124

I

Page

Customs declarations 57, 97

Cyperaceae 2, 3

Digger 8

Downy mildews 63

Driers, emergency 41

for fleshy fungi 67

installed 36-38

portable 38-41

Drying of fungi 58

of lichens 106

principles of 26-28

Duplicates, economical use of 44

sorting 55-56, 96

storing 55

Exchange of specimens 54-57, 95-97

records 54, 96

Exsiccata 82

F.A.A 59

Field boxes 43

Field data, bryophytes 99

fresh-water algae 109, 111-112

fungi 59

lichens 106

marine algae 116

vascular plants 4-7

Field labels 4-6, 116

Field notebook 6-7

Field press 10-15

Filamentous algae 110

Fixation of fungi 59

Fleshy fungi 64-70

plants 23-24

Floating aquatic plants 22

marine algae 117-118

Folders, distinctively colored 51

Folding tall plants 29-31

Foliicolous fungi 60-64

Forceps 45, 48

Formalin, ruinous effect of 41, 59, 64

for marine algae 115

Forms, loan and exchange 54,95

Fruiting specimens 2

Fumigation 52-53,94-95

125

Page

Fungi, on twigs and bark 71

requirements for specimens of 58-59

undesirable filing practices for 75-76

Glehnia, washing 3

Hammer 105

Hand lens 64

Heat, function of, in drying 27-28

sources 40

Hemlock 24-25

Herbarium sequence 50, 83

Heteroecious rusts, filing 85

Indexing fungi 81-82

Insects, biting 20-21

protecting specimens from 52-53, 94-95

relationships to plants 4

Insertion of fungus specimens 85-91

Juncaceae 2

Kerosene lantern 40

Knife 8

Labels for marking plants 64

Labels, herbarium 6, 7, 43, 47, 77

Lantern, kerosene 40

Laying out specimens for mounting 44

for pressing 28

Lichens, collecting and drying 103-106

crustose 104-105,107

filing 108

foliose 105-106

fruticose 107

Linen tape 45, 48

Liquid preservation, avoidance of, for fungi 59

danger of metallic salts 74

Liverworts 98

Loan of specimens 54-57,95-96

Marking folders in mycological herbarium 89-91

Melampyrum 13

Mica mounts for marine algae 119

Montia 23

Mosses • 98-102

Mounting board 45

paper 45

vascular plants " 44-49

126

\

Page

Mushrooms 64-69, 78

Muslin for pressing marine algae 116, 118

Muslin, possible use of, in pressing sticky plants 22-23

Myxomycetes 72, 93

Naphthalene 53,94

Nets, pankton 109, 111

Newsprint for pressing plants 31

Opuntia 23

Racketing fungi 76

Packets, herbarium, hand-folded 78-80

herbarium, machine-made 49, 77-80

Packing and shipping specimens 42,56,97

Packing fleshy fungi 69

Paper bags 26, 68

Paper hinge for attaching packets 88

"Papering" folded plants 31

Paradichlorobenzene 53, 94

Parasitic fungf 29, 60, 84-85

Parka 18-19

Picea 24

Plankton Ill, 112

Plant disease specimens 73

Plastic bags for collecting 26

Plastic stripping 46, 48

Pocket sheets for herbarium packets 88, 101-102

Poison ivy 29

Portulaca 23, 24

Potentilla 3

Preserving fresh-water algae 110

Presses 32-35

emergency t 34

felts 34

frames 32

retightening 35, 41

straps 34

tightening 35

ventilators 32

Pressing and drying vascular plants 26-42

Pressing marine algae 116,118

Pruning shears 8

Puffballs 64,70

127

Page

Revision during insertion 86

Rubber cement, avoidance of 88

Russula, spore print needed for 66

Rust fungi 62, 85, 89-91

Salix 2

Salt for preserving marine algae 115

Sedges 2

Sequence, herbarium 50, 83

Sewing specimens 48, 49

Sheath for digger 8,9

Shoes for collecting marine algae 113

Slide mounts in specimen packets 77-78

Slime molds 72

Spore prints 66-69

Spruce 24

Sticky plants ; 22

Subterranean fungi 70

Table, wheeled herbarium 86

Tsuga 24

Umbelliferae 2

Vascular plants, collecting 1-26

packing 42-43, 56-57

pressing and drying 26-42

herbarium, procedures for 43-57

specimen requirements for 1-3

Vials for algae 109-110

Viola, flattening leaves of 31

Waxed paper, adherence of some plants to 22

for pressing marine algae 118

Wood -destroying fungi 70

Woody plants 2

128