DIEECTIONS FOE COLLECTING PLANTS. 35 



The locality should be so definite that the spot can be revisited if 

 necessary. A plan of the mimediately surrounding region may 

 advantageously be made in the notebook to aid in relocating indi- 

 vidual plants. Notes should be made of the habit and size of the 

 plant, particularly when the whole plant is not collected. The data 

 should be written on the sheet in which the plants are pressed or on 

 a temporary label pro"sdded for the purpose, or, if more convenient, the 

 sheets may be numbered and the data all entered in a notebook at 

 the tune the specimens are collected. Specimens for identification 

 should be prepared in duplicate, both given the same number, and 

 one sent with full data, the determinations being returned by num- 

 ber. Great care should be taken that all specimens bearmg the 

 same number are specifically identical or are from the same plant, as 

 much confusion has been caused by collectors distributing two or 

 more species under the same number. For convenience in citation 

 by publishing botanists, those making herbaria of their own or who 

 are collecting plants for distribution should number all their collec- 

 tions consecutively from 1 upward and should not begin at 1 each 

 year, as tliis often leads to confusion. A field notebook should also 

 be kept, in which is a list of the numbers, followed by the names 

 when the plants have been identified, the date and place of collecting, 

 the altitude when from mountains, and the habitat and kind of soil 

 in which they grew. Cultivated specmiens should be accompanied 

 by data as to the native country or trade fu'm from which the speci- 

 mens or seeds were originally received. It is also important that any 

 local or trade name should be given when known, together wdth any 

 economic uses of the plant. A plain label about 1| by 4 inches, bear- 

 ing such data as necessary, is preferable, with the region in which 

 they were collected printed at the top, as "Plants of Arizona." If 

 many labels are to be written, other data may be printed to save 



time. 



SHIPPING SPECIMENS. 



Pressed and dried specimens should be shipped in the thin sheets 

 in which they were collected, and the bundle of sheets placed between 

 pieces of binder's board or heavy cardboard and securely wrapped 

 and tied. Where it is impracticable to make a good herbarium 

 specmien of the plant, the specunen should be carefully wrapped in 

 damp sphagnum moss and inclosed in oiled or parafiin paper. If 

 these materials are not available, moistened newspapers may be used 

 for wrapping the plants and the package then inclosed in stout 

 wrapping paper. Packages to be sent by parcel post must not 

 exceed 11 pounds in weight or 72 inches in length and girth combined. 



[Cir. 126] 



