xii FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE RIVIERA 



A perfect specimen should have root, stem, leaves, flowers and fruit both 

 young and mature if possible. If, as is often the case, the fruit cannot be ob- 

 tained on the same plant with the flowers, it should be gathered separately from 

 another. It is most important to get the fruit, and in a more or less developed 

 state, for in some families, such as Cruciferce, Legtiminosce , and Umbellijercr, it 

 is at times impossible to determine a plant correctly without it. Good typical 

 specimens should be selected, not necessarily the largest, but the most perfect 

 and convenient in size. When possible a root-leaf or two should be collected 

 as well as stem-leaves, but, of course, in many small plants most of the leaves 

 will be root-leaves. 



The sheets of paper upon which the specimens are finally mounted should 

 not be less than about 15 x 10 inches, which is the size most cartridge paper 

 cuts into, but 16 x 10 is still better, and this is the size adopted in the Kew 

 Herbarium, and quite large enough for ordinary purposes, though exceeded in 

 several of the other great public herbaria. 



When plants are not more than about fifteen inches long it is better to put 

 them into the tin and the press whole not cut or doubled. When, however, a 

 tall plant or shrub is dealt with, a good flowering branch should be cut off with 

 several of the lower stem-leaves, and the root-leaves, if any, should be added 

 separately, so as to give the complete habit as much as possible. 



A notebook should always be taken into the field, in which the names, when 

 known, of all the rarer and more interesting plants should be entered, together 

 with date, habitat, locality, and anything of special interest worth recording. 

 These notebooks form the basis of both the temporary and permanent labels 

 referred to later. When in a foreign country it is sometimes desirable for 

 botanists to enter the names of all the interesting species they come across in 

 their walks, whether they keep^ dry specimens or not, for such notes are some- 

 times useful long afterwards, and it is astonishing how quickly such things are 

 forgotten if not noted down. 



A press is very simply made from two stout boards, about r.6 x io inches, 

 and of sufficient thickness not to warp. The boards are best with cross-pieces 

 tenoned at the ends, in the manner that drawing-boards are made ; and they 

 are either furnished with strong leather straps screws are not advisable or 

 the pressure can be obtained by placing glazed bricks, boxes of pebbles, or 

 heavy iron weights on top. Such automatic pressure is best, for it adjusts itself 

 to the diminishing thickness of the contents of the press as the specimens dry. 

 A press of this kind, or a pair of them, can be taken to the Continent without 

 much trouble ; but if a few plants only are to be collected, it would suffice 

 to take a couple of pieces of thick mill-board with either leather straps or 

 thinner straps made of a kind of braid, or of the cloth that saddlers use, with 

 buckles attached. Elastic bands are not recommended, for they break easily 

 and cannot be adjusted like straps. 



To separate half-dried specimens from fresh ones, and to keep the whole mass 

 fairly level, and generally to hasten the process of drying, we have found a few 

 thin wooden " ventilators " or frames the size of the press, made of cross-pieces 

 of wood half an inch wide and one-eighth inch thick, very useful. Sometimes 

 strong wirework frames or lattices can be bought, which answer the same 

 purpose, or they could be used instead of the wooden boards to form an actual 

 drying-press. 



Common blotting-paper should never be used for drying plants in ; it is too 

 tender, it does not last, costs too much, and the plants often stick to it. Any 



