2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Surely many in childhood harvested herbs for herbarium. But this hobby is relevant not only for children. Many of the adults are happy to collect the herbarium. In addition, specially dried plants are good to use as a decor for a garden house or a city apartment
The very word "herbarium" comes from the Latin word "herba" ("grass"). But you can collect not only herbs, but also flowers, branches of fruit trees, moss, etc. For a classic herbarium, all parts of the plant are usually taken, including leaves, stems, root, fruits, seeds. Large plants that do not fit entirely on a leaf can be split into several pieces and placed on separate sheets that are joined together. Here are some more useful tips for those who decide to get their own herbarium:
1. Choose only the best and not wet plant
For a collection of plants, you need to collect the best, possibly flowering, specimens. But they should be dry, not after watering or rain. It is desirable to have in the herbarium the same plants in different phases of development (with leaves, buds, flowers and fruits).
2. Pluck the whole plant
The herbaceous plant must be taken as a whole, that is, its aboveground and underground parts. Moreover, the plant should be dug out carefully so as not to damage its underground parts - roots, rhizomes, tubers, bulbs. From the dug out plant, you must gently shake the ground and, if necessary, gently wash. Twigs with leaves, as well as flowers and fruits should be taken from tree species. The branches need to be cut off with a knife, and not broken, because this can harm the tree and will not look very aesthetically pleasing on the sheet.
3. Place in a folder immediately after collection
It is necessary to put the plant in the folder almost immediately after it is collected, carefully straightening all its parts. A regular iron is often used for ironing. Plants with thick stems or roots, as well as bulbs and tubers, are best cut lengthwise: this significantly speeds up drying. It is necessary to place the plant on the paper in such a way that none of its parts protrudes and sticks out of the folder.
4. Sign each plant
When placing a plant in a folder, you must simultaneously insert a label into the sheet with information about the location and conditions of its growth, the time of collection, etc. For example, in this way you can compose a herbarium of plants from your own garden in order to view your work on winter evenings and plan planting for the next year. After the plants have been placed in a folder, it is not worth taking or touching them until they are completely dry. If only the paper underneath has become very damp and needs to be replaced.
5. Avoid excess moisture
Before putting the herbarium under the press, several more clean paper sheets are placed on top of the sheet with the plant (4-5). Their number depends on the "juiciness" of the plant. The juicier the plant, the thicker the gasket between them should be, and the plants that are not very succulent should be dried separately from those that are more juicy. Sap-filled stems and leaves take a long time to dry and thereby delay the drying of other plants.
6. Use a press
In order for the "inhabitants" of the herbarium to dry evenly, the folder with them must be placed under a press or something heavy. The press for firm fixation is squeezed with straps or twine and exposed to the sun. The best option is to put it on the roof or in the attic. If there is a stove, then the plants can be dried directly on it. In a city apartment, you can simply leave the folder with the herbarium on the sunny windowsill.
7. Change wet sheets regularly
First, the paper sheets between plants should be changed at least once a day, and then you can do it less often. Change the pads until the plants are dry. But they themselves should not be touched or removed from the folder. A few days later, when the plants are completely "ready", you can remove the folder from the press. To be sure, you can test any of the stems: well-dried plants should be flexible, but not brittle. If the stems or leaves bend too easily, then they are not yet dry enough and must be pressed again.
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