From Plant Press, Vol. 8, No. 1 from January 2005.
By Heijia L. Wheeler, Volunteer
In a brightly lit room, two volunteers quietly study the pressed plant specimens they are about to mount. They are two of the eleven volunteers who use their skills and artistic senses to help Katherine “Kat” Rankin take the dried specimens that arrive in their plebian newspaper wrappings and turn them into works of art. These beautifully mounted specimens make up the heart of the U.S. National Herbarium. Even as researchers are using current technologies such as DNA bar-coding, electronic field guides, and digital imaging, they still rely on the physical plant sample for detailed study of glands, hairs, cellular structures, anatomy and chemical analysis. It would be futile to toss a digital image or a photographic slide into a test tube for a chemical analysis of floral fragrances, no matter how beautiful the image.
The environment in which these volunteers work is organized and quiet, away from their other worlds of responsibility. The volunteers are aware of the value of their contribution and they are a part of the family of Botany and the Smithsonian Institution. It is little wonder that so many of them have been volunteering for so long. Mary Starr, Mary Ellen Wiser, and Gwen Petitjean have been volunteering since the mid 1980s. They have a combined total of 60 years of volunteer service to this project. Margaret Schweitzer has been a volunteer for 15 years and the newer volunteers, Joan Lorr, Jo Ann McCann, Larry Owens, Pat Trisdorfer, Cate Puzo, Anne Datko, and Silvia Domenge are just as loyal and dedicated. They range from retirees as old as 87 years to working individuals as young as 45 years, all of them determined to make a contribution. The proof is in the years of loyal hard work they have given, and the thousands of specimens they have mounted. One gentleman was so adamant to remain a volunteer when he had to move away from the DC area last year that he continues to mount specimens from his home in Pennsylvania. Last year the volunteers mounted 20 percent of the annual total, working, on average, 185 hours per month. This has helped to fill the shortage of staff to handle the tremendous backlog and influx of specimens needing to be processed.
The Herbarium has over 4.7 million specimens of which 96,000 are type specimens of all plant groups. Every day new specimens arrive at the Herbarium from collectors all over the world. These are donated by scientists from Alabama to Australia. The researchers at the Smithsonian also bring back specimens related to their research projects from the world over. All of these specimens are carefully dried, recorded and sent to Rankin’s group who turn them into permanent vouchers to be placed in their proper spot in the Herbarium.
The mounting process is very precise. They use the strapping and stitching method rather than simply gluing the plant to the mounting paper. The U.S. National Herbarium is one of the few herbaria that use this method for plant mounting. All the mounters get fundamental instructions and rules in their training. Once they are confident and understand the basics, their judgment is respected for many aspects of the mounting task. They are quite independent and know what needs to be done and how to do it. There is continued oversight, but there is a trust between volunteer mounter and supervisor that constantly develops and grows, and the resulting mounted specimens are esthetically pleasing. This is a synergistic relationship. The Herbarium’s gain is obvious. Last year the volunteers mounted over 3,500 specimens. The volunteers in turn gained a sense of accomplishment and the pleasure of each others company.
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