Herbarium: Functions, Technique, and Kind of Herbaria

Herbarium is derived from the word herb which means small plants. Herbarium is a library of dried plant specimens. A modern herbarium is a great filing system for information about plants both in the form of actual specimens and in the form of published information. In this article, we are going to discuss the proper definition of Herbarium, its history, functions, and the kinds of Herbaria.

Key Terms: Herbarium, Specimens, Botany, Plants, Herbarium Technique, Moisture, Natural Topography 

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What is a Herbarium?

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Herbarium is a storehouse of collected specimens that are dried, pressed, and preserved in sheets. The sheets carry a label on the right-hand side at the lower corner. The labels provide the following information.

• The date of collection of the specimen.
• The specimen’s English name.
• The family of the specimen.
• The name of the person who collected the specimen.
• The place where the specimen was found.
• The specimen’s local name.

Herbariums are a quick source of information for taxonomic studies. They also provide information on local flora and fauna. With the help of information provided by herbariums, we can locate the wild varieties and their relatives of the economically weaker plants. Some prominent herbariums in the world are:

• The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, England
• Central National Herbarium, Calcutta

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History of Herbarium

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The first herbarium was made during the time of the Renaissance in Italy by Luca Ghini, an eminent Italian physician and botanist of the sixteenth century. Many different species of plants were introduced to Europe during the age of exploration. In those days travels were long and harsh and it was hard to keep plants alive during long journeys. So, Europeans got access to dried seeds and plant species.

In Britain, Hans Sloane created one of the largest herbaria of the pre-Linnaean era. He was a prominent botanist, physician, and an enthusiastic collector of herbs. His collection of 265 volumes forms the base of what today has become the British Museum. Later, Benjamin Delessert, a French banker, created an even bigger and finer Geneva Herbarium.

By the mid-19th century, botany became a favorite of the masses. Great contributions were made by people from all classes, both amateurs and professionals, into the field of Botany. This paved the way for the study of plants. The East and the Middle East were also emerging as Botany enthusiasts. Although there would be tension between field collectors of different backgrounds, this was just a way the interest in Botany was catching up all over the globe.

Herbaria were added to universities by wealthy collectors who willed their collections to educational institutions. Henry Borron Fielding, the heir to a British millinery fortune and avid collector, willed his large collection to Oxford University. In Florence, Philip Barker Webb, a rich collector, left his enormous collection of over 300,000 specimens to the University of Florence.

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The Herbarium Technique

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To make a herbarium, there is a certain technique that is followed. It involves collection, drying, poisoning, stitching, labeling, and deposition.

• Collection: In this step, plant materials are collected. It is done with a scientific mind and aesthetic sense. The plant materials should contain fully grown leaves and complete inflorescence. The twigs, 30-40 cm in length, represent the woody elements. When herbaceous plants are collected, they are collected with their underground parts intact. Diseased plants should be avoided. The collections are stored in metallic vasculum or polythene bags to preserve moisture.

• Drying: The collections are pressed in ordinary newspaper folders keeping in mind that overlapping should be avoided. The folders are then preserved in a field press. The moistened folders are changed to avoid the blackening and decay of plant materials.

• Poisoning: Poisoning is done to avoid the growth of microbes. The reagent that is usually used for poisoning is mercuric chloride. The plants are dried again after this treatment.

• Mounting, Stitching, and Labelling: After the treatment with poison, the specimens are dried, glued, and stitched to the herbarium sheets. The field data is entered on the right-hand side. Seeds and flowers are attached to the herbarium sheets using small paper envelopes called fragment packets.

• Deposition: Herbarium sheets are arranged according to genus and classification – mainly according to the Bentham and Hooker system of classification. In intervals of about 6 months, DDT and copper sulfate are sprayed upon them to kill insects such as silverfish.

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Functions of a Herbarium

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The main functions of a herbarium are as follows:

• Conservation of Materials and Data

Materials stored in a herbarium remain intact as a record of flora in their respective regions even after the natural topography and vegetation become extinct. Herbarium labels contain data on native uses, ecological notes like frequency and abundance of species, associated plants, habits, etc. These types of data for a particular species but from different regions provide valuable material for an almost complete description of various taxonomic characters when carefully studied and analyzed.

• Teaching and Research

Herbaria are a teaching aid for degree and postgraduate students of botany. Teachers can show herbarium specimens if fresh materials are not available at the time.

They are also an essential requirement for biosystematic research i.e., for correct identification and nomenclature besides a source of the material. They also provide research material for anatomical, palynological, and chemotaxonomical studies.Read More:

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Kinds of Herbarium

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Classification of herbaria depends on the contents, purpose, region/place, plant groups. Some of them are:

• Herbaria of weeds – These have weeds of cultivated fields and waste places.
• Herbaria of medicinal plants – There contain plants of known medicinal value.
• Regional Herbaria – These are herbaria of a particular region or place.

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Significance of Herbaria

1. Provide valuable data and material.
2. Help in all kinds of taxonomic research.
3. Aid in the assessment of the conservation status of a taxon.
4. Serve as a fundamental resource of identification of almost all plants around the world.
5. Act as a source of estimation of global biodiversity.
6. They are a baseline for data on the distribution and abundance of keystone species.
7. They help in the distributional range and population biological studies.
8. The specimen tags in a herbarium contain all the information about habitat, habit, local name, flower color, etc., of plant specimens for further botanical, ethnobotanical phytogeographical studies, etc.
9. They are a useful source of material for anatomy, palynology, cytotaxonomy, biochemistry, pharmacognosy, etc. studies.
10. Serve as an aid in teaching plant taxonomy.
11. Provide seeds of extinct plant species for further studies.

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Things to Remember

• A herbarium is a storehouse of collected specimens that are dried, pressed, and preserved in sheets.
• Herbariums are a quick source of information for taxonomic studies. They also provide information on local flora and fauna.
• The first herbarium was made during the time of the Renaissance in Italy by Luca Ghini, an eminent Italian physician and botanist of the sixteenth century.
• To make a herbarium, there is a certain technique that is followed. It involves collection, drying, poisoning, stitching, labeling, and deposition.
• Materials stored in a herbarium remain intact as a record of flora in their respective regions even after the natural topography and vegetation become extinct.
• Herbaria are a teaching aid for degree and postgraduate students of botany. Teachers can show herbarium specimens if fresh materials are not available at the time.
• Classification of herbaria depends on the contents, purpose, region/place, plant groups.

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