10 



MISC. PUBLICATION 568, U. S. DEP'T. OP AGRICULTURE 



become blurred, if not actually soiled, by contact with the specimen: 

 also there is some danger that the copy may become separated from the 

 specimen. 



Field No. Latin name 



Local name P. I. No. 



Locality data 



Plant description 



Special notes Wild? 



Cuitr . 



Collector Date 



PLANT EXPLORATION AND INTRODUCTION. BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Figure 1. — Page from field notebook as used by the Division of Plant Exploration and 

 Introduction, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



The disadvantage of the permanent notebook is that it might be 

 lost; also, a typed list must be made when specimens are sent away for 

 study. On the other hand, the notebook system is more convenient for 

 reference and for making final labels. 



Another favored method is the use of consecutively numbered tags, 

 or small paper squares, which are attached to or placed with the speci- 

 men. Such a system might be too troublesome or time-consuming for 

 extensive collections of pressed plants but might be suitable for insect 

 specimens or plant -analysis material. 



Some plant collectors prefer to enter at least some of the collection 

 data on the margins of the newspaper folder in which the plant is col- 

 lected, but this method can be unsatisfactory, because sometimes the 

 margins are not wide enough for writing; also it is difficult to write on 

 the folders when the press is full (see also Hints on Pressing, p. 20). 



The method used by the author has given satisfactory results over 

 a period of years. This consists simply in putting the specimens into the 

 collecting case, one after the other in the same order in which they are 

 collected during the day. Pages from a small pocket notebook, or uni- 

 form slips of paper, with brief penciled notes, are inserted to separate 

 various groups of plants coming from different localities and environ- 

 ments. Additional slips are used for special notes about individual plants. 

 Later, as the plants are being transferred into the press for drying, and 

 numbers are being assigned to the collections, these brief notes are 

 expanded and written in ink in the permanent notebook. If desired, the 

 penciled notes may be left permanently with the specimens. 



