Making a 21st century hebarium

I don't often appear in my journal, but tonight's image was taken by Pete, and is the only one I have for today! It may be used in a report to the Heritage Lottery Fund by the LoveLincsPlants project

I'm standing beside the plant dryer that I've been loaned by the project (actually an adapted honey warmer) unpacking some of the herbarium specimens made on our trip to Lincoln last weekend. 

The plant presses were made by woodwork students form Boston College and are very effective. There's quite an art to making a good herbarium specimen. The plants have to be arranged carefully in the newspaper flimsies and tagged with a unique code, which is recorded on a data sheet where full details of the species, collector, date and location of collection are made. The newspaper flimsies are layered with blotting paper and corrugated card (which allows a flow of air through the stack), the presses are tightened with specially designed straps and are then kept in the drier for a minimum of four days, more if there are any succulent leaves or berries. 

When they've had their time in the drier the presses are opened up and the flimsies containing the specimens are carefully removed and packed into a cardboard box, ready to be transferred up to Horncastle. By this time the specimens should be perfectly dry and can be stored for many years, provided that they're kept in suitable conditions. 

In the winter the specimens will be mounted on herbarium sheets and printed labels will be attached. Most of this work will also be done by volunteers, often older people who can't necessarily get out into the field to help collect specimens. Two herbarium sheets are made for each species - one will be sent to the Natural History Museum and the other will be stored in Lincolnshire. 

Quite a lot of work's involved but the project will provide an invaluable resource which can be studied for many years to come.