Herbarium Project
The objectives of this assignment are as follows:
- Refine plant identification techniques
- Learn more about the diversity and taxonomy of flowering plants
Your final project is due in class on Wednesday, May 1.
Each student will create a herbarium of 25flowering plant species found in southwest Ohio. Each of the plant species must be found in a different plant family. You may collect with other students, but the collection must represent your own work. Use Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide to identify your plants. All plants collected must be native or naturalized (introduced from another region, but now growing wild). A good rule of thumb is that if it’s not in the guide, it is recommended that you do not put it in your collection.
While the plants are still fresh place them between several pieces of newspaper. Lay a phone book or several heavy books on top of the newspapers so that it completely covers the area taken up by the plant and put in a safe place until dry. It is very important that you take the time to arrange your specimen prior to drying as the shape of the drying will be the shape of your final mount. Neatly mount your dry collection on herbarium paper (available at bookstore)or 12” x 12” scrapbooking paper (available at craft stores).
Unless you have permission, collecting on private property should be avoided. You may usually collect on roadsides without permission. Public locations such as parks may require prior permission prior to collecting. In general, a good rule of thumb is to collect only a small set of samples from a large population. You should avoid collecting all of something and the last of anything. One of the field rules followed by many plant collectors is the one in twenty rule for herbaceous perennials - for every twenty plants, only one can be sampled.
For “real” herbarium collections, all plant parts are collected. For our purposes, you may collect only a portion of the plant for your collection. It is recommended that you supplement your partial collection with your own photographs of the plants in situ. When taking photos in situ, you must include an identifying label or object in the photo. Since you are graded on the ability to make the correct identification, it is critical that you provide enough information for me to assess your identification. Be certain to collect or photograph plant parts that are particularly important in identifying your species from a similar one. For up to 10 of your plants, you may include a photo only, provided the plants can be definitively identified from the photo. It is recommended that you photograph rather than collect those species which are in low abundance.
On each page where the specimen and photos are mounted, provide the following information for each plant species: Family name, Scientific name and author(s) of the binomial, State, county, and town of collection, exact location of the population, describe habitat where you collected specimen, date collected, and flower color (color may change on drying). If the species is woody, indicate if it is a shrub or tree, and approximate height.
The collection is worth 100 points. You will be graded on correct identification (40 points), completeness of accompanying information (40 points), following assignment directions correctly (5) and neatness (15 points).
EXTRA CREDIT--2 points extra for each additional correctlyidentified specimen (no partial credit) for up to 5 extra plants.