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Post by BarryRice on May 10, 2007 16:12:24 GMT
Hey Folks,
I'm currently curating the Utricularia collections for the University of California at Berkeley. (I like to get herbarium loans from other herbaria to help get their collections in order.)
Looking at old herbarium sheets is always really cool, because you sometimes see neat specimens.
Two specimens in the Berkeley collection caught my eye yesterday.
The first was a fragmentary collection of U. floridana that I wasn't absolutely sure was correctly identified. I paused, but then noticed it was identified as such by "Peter Taylor"! I won't counter the ID on that specimen!
The second was an old collection of U. macrorhiza (labelled "U. vulgaris"). The specimen was collected and prepared in 1880 by R.M. Austin. The name should be familiar to those interested in Darlingtonia!
Anyway, just a few thrilling, geeky little moments in the herbarium!
Barry
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Post by ICPS-bob on May 10, 2007 18:40:49 GMT
For additional geeky trivia, what determines where herbarium sheets reside and how are they verified to be "correctly" identified? What is the procedure to get a sheet entered into the UC collection? Are some collections more authoritative than others? How are suspect identifications dealt with?
In Taylor's book, he cites herbarium specimens for U. floridana at NY holo, F, G (M photo), GH, K, LE, P, PH, MO, US iso. On page 56 he implies that he visited these specimens. He does not mention the collection at University of California at Berkeley.
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Post by BarryRice on May 10, 2007 19:02:27 GMT
Hey Bob,
Specimens are usually lodged at the herbarium where the researcher works. So most of my own herbarium specimens are here at Davis. But I also submit specimens to other herbaria, either as gifts or because it might be a plant from their region.
For example, if I were to make an important collection such as a range extension of a plant in New Mexico, and if I had enough material for two sheets, I'd keep one at Davis and send the other to a good herbarium in New Mexico.
You can never be sure of the ID of a specimen until you see it. With Utricularia, anywhere from 10-50% of the collections may be incorrectly identified. Sometimes the specimens are mixed, too, so there are multiple species on the same sheet. Nearly all the herbaria in the USA have not yet incorporated the name U. macrorhiza, either. So what you do when you see an incorrectly labelled sheet is to annotate it with a new label (which doesn't obscure the old ones), with your ID, your name, and the date. Sometimes, you'll see old sheets with four or more sets of names on them---it's like a long discussion through time, sometimes involving people who never meet and who aren't even alive at the same time!
If you want to donate specimens to any herbarium, it is usually very easy. You can send the dried specimen (with ID, date, your name, location, etc) to the herbarium between sheets of newspaper, but if you do it may take a long time before it gets mounted. It is far better if you can mount the specimen yourself, but this requires archival paper, archival glue, and so on.
Do you have anything in mind, or are you just curious?
Barry
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2007 3:23:02 GMT
i think it would be cool to send in something to a museum or herbarium premounted (to make it easier)just so that you could see your name there....lol
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Post by stevestewart on Oct 16, 2007 11:30:13 GMT
Hello all,
I feel compelled to add that it is best for most people to make an attempt to get to know the curator of an herbarium collection before donating material to them.
Some herbariums are not well funded and have little or no time for new collections. It helps if people get to know the protocols and priorities of the specific institution being donated to.
There is nothing worse than to receive a rare or endangered specimen (or misidentified collection), especially from a protected area, when there is no urgent need for the specimen in the collection.
An example for this is, it is well known there are large populations of Sarracenia minor (I know, off Genera) in Seminole County Florida, yet the USF herbarium does not list any collections from this county. The staff of the herbarium know there are plants of this species in this county, but the populations are in protected areas, the species is listed as protected, and there is no urgent need for a voucher specimen. I am certain they would be very unhappy to receive an unsolicited collection of this species from any person, without prior notice and authorization.
Take care,
Steven Stewart
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2007 0:05:17 GMT
o...lol there goes my hopes then of sending in something to a random place....then taking a trip there in a year just to see my name.......wow im a loser i know......lol
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Post by stevestewart on Oct 17, 2007 11:36:57 GMT
radjess331,
The point of my post wasn't to discourage anyone, but to encourage people to take part in their local educational institutions resources.
You may well find that any given hebarium has a need for voucher specimens that you have growing as common weeds in your neighborhood.
Just make an attempt to get to know associated people (like grad students, professors or curators) rather than sending surprise material to unknown institutions.
It is easy to Google, Ask or Yahoo various educational institutions for contacts, to see what they have available for the public.
It only takes a minute to change the future forever.
Take care,
Steven Stewart
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2007 23:15:55 GMT
o...i see...lol okay...i will maybe in the future look into getting to know some "associated" people with the local herbarium
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