COLLECTING TREE AND FLOWER SPECIMENS 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT 



AN invaluable aid in studying our wild and garden 

 flowers is a good microscope, as powerful and stand- 

 ard a one as your purse can buy. You will not pro- 

 ceed very far into the field of even poptilar botany and 

 wild flower study, before you find that it will require a 

 stronger eye than the 

 one you have in your 

 head ere you can accu- 

 rately discern all there 

 is to be seen in a flower. 

 Some of the modern mi- 

 croscopes are superb in- 

 struments ; not only are 

 they great and accurate 

 magniflers of minute 

 structures, but they ad- 

 mit of the use of special 

 accessories, so that one 

 can either draw or pho- 

 tograph the object un- 

 der examination. There 

 are many types of fine 

 and inexpensive micro- 

 scopes on the market, 

 which are almost indis- 

 pensable to begin with, 

 while the high-powered 

 ones can be commanded 

 after the student is sat- 

 isfied that the study will 

 be with him as long, 

 perhaps, as he lives. 



The forming of a 

 working, scientific her- 

 barium is another step 

 in the study of flowers 

 and it is quite a task, and 

 requires special knowl- 

 edge along a variety 

 of lines. In the first 

 place, you must know 

 how to collect scientifi- 

 cally: to select in the 

 field, or in nature, to 



speak more broadly, the class of material worthy of your 

 care, and measuring up to what the specimen demands in 

 any case. Always select the most perfect specimens, from 

 root to flower. Keep collecting until the entire life-history 

 of the plant is completely illustrated. Show the normal as 

 well as the abnormal, and all the necessary variations of 

 all the structxires of any plant you bring in. Take leaves, 

 for example: of course the forms assumed by them are 

 infinite, even for the same species. Still we may, by judi- 

 cious selection, very well illustrate the limits in any direc- 



INSTRUMENTS USED IN PRESERVATION OP PLANTS 



Behind the microscope shown in this picture is to be seen one of the covers (Venus covers) 

 used in the Bureau of Plant Industry, of the United States Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington. The specimen is a Rose Marsh Mallow {Hibiscus moscheiilos), and forms a 

 pan of the Economic Collection. Note how the pressed flower is always fastened very 

 carefully with little gummed slips, in the manner shown, on the right-hand page. Note the 

 "data label" in the lower right-hand corner, giving full information about the specimen. 

 The instrument shown is the "Spencer Dissecting Microscope," and near it are the dissect- 

 ing needles, extra objective, and spring forceps with curved ends. One of these microscopes 

 may be purchased for $9.00. Directions will later be given for the use of this instrument, 

 with further details on plant preservation. 



tion with a very few examples. A good way to study such 

 a point as this, is to select some big oak tree, standing so 

 far in the open that there is no danger that its fallen leaves 

 in the autumn have become mixed up with those from any 

 other tree. You will be surprised at the number of 



forms the leaves seem 

 to have; yet, when you 

 have judiciously col- 

 lected forty or fifty of 

 them and arranged 

 them in a row in your 

 study, how few it re- 

 quires to actually illus- 

 trate, not only the vari- 

 ation, but also the fact 

 that the leaves belong 

 to that particular spe- 

 cies of oak, provided the 

 tree you selected was 

 not a hybrid. 



You must collect 

 your flowers, seeds, 

 seed-pods, roots, buds, 

 and all the rest, in the 

 same scientific manner. 

 Collecting-boxes for use 

 in the field can be ob- 

 tained at any first-class 

 naturalists' supply 

 establishment, anj-- 

 where from fifty cents 

 to two dollars and a 

 half. Get the best every 

 time. There are also 

 admirable contrivances 

 for the pressing of flow- 

 ers manufactured, with 

 instructions for using 

 them, such as Riker's 

 Botanical Press ; wire 

 presses, and plant 

 presses of various 

 models ; all are excellent 

 as well as indispensable. 

 In pressing flowers one must use every bit of one's sci- 

 entific and artistic sense, in order that the pressed si^eci- 

 men shall exhibit every point and character it possesses, 

 and every point one desires to show. One should likewise 

 be familiar with all that is known up to date with respect 

 to preserving the color of flowers, leaves, and other plant- 

 structures during their pressing and preparation for 

 permanent preservation. 



In the summer, after any of your specimens are pressed, 

 }-ou may consign them to temporary folders until your 



169 



