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Collecting and pressing flowering plants is a wonderful way to learn about the flowers of our world. These specimens can be used in many ways - a herbarium collection, making greeting cards, decoupaging onto wood, mounting in photo frames or simply recording your own garden. A few guidelines: Always respect any protected areas such as parks, open spaces and roadsides. Be cautious of collecting "unknown" plants; they could be poisonous or even endangered. If only one plant is noticeable, leave it to spread and grow. Come back the following year and there may be many more of that plant available because it was left to thrive.
Cut a piece of the plant that has a flower, stem, leaves that are close to the ground as well as higher up, and possibly the fruit. Very seldom have I collected the root because the plant gives up its life in that case. Place it in a phone directory or other heavy portable book. Use a toothpick to spread out parts of the plant. Small flowers can be difficult . Record date, location and possible names on a slip of paper and place with the plant in your book.
Transfer plants as soon as possible to a plant press. I use a 12" x 18" plant press -
easy to make with a few tools. Keep the plants between newspaper for a week to 10 days.
Arrange and attach the plant to a piece of heavyweight acid-free white paper with a small amount of Elmer's Glue-All. This takes practice. Sometimes the plant needs to be trimmed to fit the page. Weight the paper with the plant with smooth stones, bricks or books in an out-of-the-way place for a few days. Consult reliable sources to verify identity: Flowering Plants of New Mexico by Robert D. Ivey; Weeds of the West from the Western Society of Weed Science; the
USDA website. I often consult a botanist or horticulturist to help with plant identification. Print the plant's scientific name (or names), common names, date and area it was collected in the lower right corner of the page. Arrange the sheets in alphabetical order. A three-ring binder is a good place to keep them.
Note: Helen Woody has been a Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve docent for many years. She helped start the Herbarium of plants at LCWP and continues to work with collecting, pressing and maintaining the Herbarium. She also researches and writes descriptions for plant identification resources available for visitors to the Preserve. |
COLLECTING
Proceed with caution when pressing a cactus. Very carefully slice it into 2 pieces using a long serrated knife and then press with lots of newspaper, changing the paper every day until dry. This will take longer than most plants. 