Herbarium: how to make a home collection of plants

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Early golden autumn is a great time to collect and dry herbs, field and garden flowers, leaves of shrubs and trees. Communication with nature will allow you to find harmony in your soul, draw energy and calm down. And if you go to the park or forest with your children, you can enjoy the joyful moments of spending time together and, in addition, instill in the kids an interest in the world around them.

In this article we will look at how to collect a herbarium, how to do it easily and correctly, resulting in beautiful specimens of the local flora. A herbarium is a collection of various plants (herbs, flowers, leaves) collected and dried. Also, in a broad sense, this term can be considered as an institution engaged in the collection and storage of such compositions. The first herbariums appeared in Italy in the 16th century, and today the largest collections are in museums, botanical gardens and institutes in New York, Paris, St. Petersburg. Home collections of dried herbs, as a rule, consist of several dozen exhibits attached to album sheets and labeled withnecessary information.

Your own herbarium: how to make and collect it correctly?

In order to make a herbarium, you will need a minimum set of tools and supplies, including:

• knife, scissors:
• paper or newspaper to dry;
• press;
• albums or folders for easy storage of plants;
• glue;
• labels or stickers.

The main rule for collecting any herbs, leaves and flowers is to work in dry weather. There should be no dew drops on the biomaterial, otherwise it will dry for a very long time and be poorly stored. Tip: in order to bring all the leaves and flowers home, you can take a folder for papers with you. After collecting all the samples of local flora you like, you need to start processing them. Gently shake off excess soil from them, straighten the plant, but try to keep its natural, natural look as much as possible.

Home herbarium. How to make and dry it?

Consider several basic methods for making a herbarium. The simplest technique, known to many since childhood, is drying leaves, herbs and flowers in magazines or books, that is, under pressure. Its main advantage lies in the fact that, thanks to the smooth sheets of the printed edition, the biomaterial takes a convenient flat shape. Unfortunately, using this method, you can not only ruin good books, but also ruin the herbarium by drying it out. Tip: if you want to make the leaves stronger and denser, dip them in a solution of water and PVA glue. BUThow to make a herbarium of flowers? The second method of drying is to collect plants in a bunch and then hang the "bouquets" on a rope in dry rooms (in a barn or attic).

This is the technique used to dry plants with flowers or fruits. All flowers will keep their shape and look beautiful.

Herbarium: how to make it with a glycerin solution

One of the interesting techniques for preserving and continuing the life of plants is soaking them in a solution of glycerin (three parts water and one part glycerin). Leaves, buds and twigs absorb the substance, the water subsequently evaporates, and it remains in the plant. This technique allows you to get elastic, durable, well-preserving leaves and flowers. In plants, only the color changes - to brownish-green. But if necessary, this can be corrected with various aerosol paints. How to make a herbarium from leaves in this way? A solution of glycerin is poured into a dish with high sides. The plant is prepared: an incision about 4 cm long is made along the bark or the tip of the stem.

And then the leaf or twig is placed in a container with a solution for several days. Take out the plant when it darkens. It should be remembered that as the liquid is absorbed, it is necessary to add a little more solution to the container. Any further work with the samples can be started after they are completely dry.

Herbarium: how to make it long and reliablekept?

After collecting, processing and drying the plants, you should proceed to their design in folders or albums for the herbarium. Only a plant of one particular species is attached to each leaf. For clarity, you can put several copies on the page, but at the same time, parts of them should not protrude beyond the edges of the paper. Glue and narrow strips of paper are used to attach the plants. The lower right corner is left free for an inscription or a label with the name of a representative of the flora and other important information (date, time, place of collection, etc.).