HOW TO KNOW THE GRASSES 



The tools needed for collecting grasses are simple. First of all, you 

 will need some sort of digger, so that you can get the important under- 

 ground parts of the plants. I use a long, stout screwdriver, but large 

 hunting knives, geologists picks, or entrenching tools are also satis- 

 factory. Whatever tools you use, be sure to get the parts of the plant 

 that lie below the ground level. Frequently an otherwise good speci- 

 men becon;es very difficult to identify because the collector has ne- 

 glected these structures. 



After digging a specimen from the ground, one should knock the 

 dirt from the roots or wash them clean. If the plant is too bulky to 

 press flat it may be subdivided and some of the extra inflorescences 

 saved to provide spikelets for dissection. Each specimen is placed 

 in a single folded newspaper sheet (12 x 16 inches as folded) for dry- 

 ing. Information which you would like to 

 keep, such as the location, type of habitat, 

 and the date, should be written on the mar- 

 gin of the paper. If the specimen is too long 

 to fit in a folder, it may be doubled back 

 one or more times. Crumpled or tangled 

 parts should be smoothed out. The bent 

 stems can be held in place by Httle sHps 

 of card with a slit cut in each (Fig. 9). The 

 Figure 9 grass specimens in their paper folders may 



be carried between sheets of beaverboard or 

 plywood, with a light strap around \he bundle, for periods as long as 

 a day, before it is necessary to dry them. 



e 



Final drying of the specimens is accomplished by placing them, in 

 their folders, between 12 x 18 inch blotters made of builders' deaden- 

 ing felt (obtainable from lumber yards, in rolls), or between thick pads 

 of newspapers. The specimens must be kept under pressure until dry, 

 either by placing boards on the sides of the bimdle and strapping it 

 tightly, or by placing heavy weights on top of the bundle. Each day 

 the damp blotters or newspaper pads must be removed and replaced 

 with dry ones. The damp blotters may be dried by laying them out 

 in the sun on dry paving (not grass) for a short while. In wet weather, 

 the blotters can be cautiously dried in a warm oven. Usually grass 

 specimens dry in a few days. After drying, they may be handled in 

 the paper folders, but they will keep better if they are mounted on 

 paper. 



One may mount specimens in large scrapbooks, or better still, on 

 standard herbarium sheets which may be purchased from biological 

 supply houses. Specimens may be glued to paper by placing them 

 momentarily on a large sheet of glass covered with thin glue, brushed 

 to a thin uniform layer. Fish glue, carriage glue, or LaPages Special 



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