Herbarium or a collection of pressed and dried herbs with parts
Plants dried by pressing can stand in a herbarium for a long time or be a decoration on the wall
To make a herbarium you need: plain white A4 paper or paper in any color, transparent plastic foil, scissors, adhesive tape (adhesive tape), plain or ballpoint pen, a label on which to write information about the plant and a folder in which to finally arrange all the plants.
In search of plants (which will be dried and stacked in a herbarium), it is useful to bring an old newspaper, a small shovel, a knife or scissors, an ordinary pencil and post-it papers. A shovel is a useful tool when extracting whole plants that are small.
After removing the plant from the soil, a lot of soil remains on the root, which should be carefully removed and care must be taken not to damage the root and the plant.
It is good to have a magnifying glass on hand and see that no insect or other small animal has taken refuge somewhere. Also, if you notice any tiny balls that are not part of the plant or even tiny insects, it is best to throw away such specimens. Namely, tiny balls are insect eggs that can be eaten by plants after they develop.
The plant can be too branched and will not fit on paper, so it should be shortened a bit and wilted and moldy leaves removed.
Collected plants should be dried by pressing. There are several methods for this, but it is desirable to use the simplest method. A specimen of the plant is placed between two napkins so that each leaf and flower are flattened. If the plant is still wet, it should be covered with a tissue and be sure to “dress” in another sheet of newsprint so that moisture is not transferred to the plants below and above it.
The next step is to dry the collected plants by pressing them in a newspaper. Drying is certainly the most important process of making a herbarium. On average, the plants must be dried for at least twenty days. Some plants are dried for a month or more. Usually we “change” wetter plants (or change newsprint) many times until they lose all moisture.
Do not stack plants in books, as this can permanently destroy the pages of the book. Therefore, before placing the plant in the book, be sure to use newsprint.
Then everything is inserted between the pages of the book, which is then additionally loaded with heavy books or similar heavy objects. The weight of the load should be evenly distributed over the entire plant material.
When the plants are completely dry (after a few newspaper changes, after about two to three weeks), they can begin to stack in the herbarium.
The label is a kind of ID card of each plant in the herbarium. Basic information about each plant is written on the label. These are: the name of the species, the site where the plant was harvested and the habitat where it was harvested, the date when it was harvested and the name of the person who harvested the plant.
If you know the popular name of the plant, then you can find out the Latin name of the species using Google or professional literature.
Pressed plants can also be displayed on the wall in a picture frame.
Note: You can get an empty herbarium or collection of dried plants in any bookstores or specialty hobby shops.
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