From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 2, April 2021.
By Sylvia Orli and Erika Gardner.
We appreciate the botanical pressed specimen for so many reasons–the plant, the taxonomy, the genetic material, the history, and the incredible value it provides to science. We have also come to appreciate the pressed botanical sheet for itself, the beauty and brilliance that the collection can engender by simply being secured onto paper with a label. The U.S. National Herbarium has now created over 3.5 million botanical specimen images, and they are magnificent because of the skillfully crafted botanical sheets.
The specimens at the Herbarium are mounted by a skillfully trained team of 21 volunteers. This team carries on a special tradition of best practices and standards, which have been in existence since the 18th century. Our plant mounters do not have any formal training in Botany, but they possess special skills that transfer well in the specimen preparation realm. Many of our mounters are excellent needle crafters! These skills are highly desirable in the specimen preparation room.
The first step to mount a specimen is to arrange it on an 11”x 18” archival herbarium sheet of paper. In its post-mortem state, the plant should look very similar to how it was growing in the wild. Challenges ensue when the plant is larger than the standard herbarium sheet. The plant must be mounted skillfully and arranged creatively for it to be a valuable specimen for scientific investigation. It is a beautiful balancing act where art and science blend seamlessly on a sheet of paper.
Very seldom do we encounter the unconventional specimen, examples include, the “oh, so rare happy face” specimen, the heart shaped specimen, or even the railroad track specimen. These creations tend to produce a chuckle and sometimes a post on social media, but for the serious researcher these works of rogue pieces of art are highly discouraged.
Left: Perhaps the mounter never intended for the ghostly look of this Opuntia dillenii specimen, but it emotes the arid and tough habitat of the cactus. Not a place for tender plants. Many species of Cactaceae are endangered, and thus the specific location on the label of this collection has been covered to dissuade predatory human poachers. Collection: Rose 3309, Antigua and Barbuda, February 1913.
Right: Oenothera stubbei is sold in nurseries as a rather stubby plant, but this specimen captures the grace of the wild collected plant. It is artfully placed on the sheet to display the elongate stems. Collection: Olvera 1784, Mexico, September 2017.
Left: The Merremia sp. is a twining vine, and the specimen seeks to display that twining habit. It unintentionally forms the letter N, which may be the first thing observers see. The New York Botanical Garden has made a web page for the Specimen Alphabet, with A-Z of all the accidental letter specimens. Collection: Acevedo-Rodriguez 16675, Brazil, September 2017.
Right: Helenium amarum, a native of the southern United States, typically has vibrant yellow flowers, but these colors fade after several years on a sheet. When originally mounted on a sheet in 1896, one can imagine the mounter forming a heart sign out of these bright yellow flowers. This playfulness is highly discouraged today, but botanists were often their own plant mounters a century ago. Collection: Schuchert s.n., Alabama, United States, October 1896.
John Axel Nannfeldt (1904-1985) was a Swedish botanist known for his study of fungi and vascular plants. He was also known for his whimsical plant mounts, creating amusing designs out of his collections. Collections (clockwise from top left:
Centaurium vulgaris, Nannfeldt 12151, Sweden, July 1952
Euphrasia frigida, Nannfeldt s.n., Sweden, July 1934
Taraxacum ceratolobum, Nannfeldt 8680, Sweden, July 1946
Sedum villosum, Nannfeldt s.n., Norway, August 1934
Comments