Plant Collection

General Objectives

Field Supplies & Equipment

What Everyone Should Have in the Field

• Prunners
• Zip-top bags
• Identification Labels
• Field notebook
• Pen/Pencil
• Location determination equipment (e.g., GPS or a topo map)
• Day pack
• Gloves?

What You Sometimes Need

• Pole trimmers
• Saws
• Preservatives for DNA samples

Base Station Supplies & Equipment

• Plant press (with dividers, blotters, newspaper)
• Plant press straps
• Plant drier
• Herbarium paper
• Glue & brushes (or materials for another way to attach the specimens)
• Herbarium labels

Notes on the Process

Equipment Recommendations

Field Supplies Equipment

Everyone, from Novice to Expert is likely to use the same set of field supplies and equipment, with just slight variations in preference for things like packs and location determination equipment.

The following are examples of the basic supplies and equipment for the field activities:

Skill and Behavioral Levels

Novice

• Does not collect plants.

Advanced Beginner

• Collects those plants which are identified by someone else as important.
• Takes too little or too much material.
• Fails, on occasion, to collect flowering material.
• Shows little creativity in obtaining hard-to-reach samples.
• Sometimes mixes samples.
• Annotates sample inconsistently, sometimes leaving out critical information.
• Fails to process samples in a timely manner.
• Depends on other people to complete the sample processing.

Competent

• Fully understands the value of a good sample.
• Obtains the proper type and amount of materials needed for a reliable voucher.
• Collects consistently so that the samples represent an accurate inventory of a site.
• Takes adequate notes and transfers these to the specimens.
• Completes the collection and deposition process.
• Acknowledges the assistance of people who have aided the collection.
• Depends primarily on local collections for information.

Proficient

• Surveys existing collections so that new collections add to our knowledge, rather than just duplicating it.
• Encourages other people to collect and add to the base of knowledge.
• Distributes specimens to experts.
• Makes abundant use of existing collections housed in many locations.

Expert

• Actively promotes the curation of collections.
• Fosters positive attitudes about the long-term values of well-maintained collections.
• Organizes and supports major collection efforts.

• Prunners: Felco 2 pruner ($53 @ Felco Store)
• Zip-top bags: Gallon size ZipLoc
• Identification Labels
• Field notebook: Rite-in-the-Rain
• Pen/Pencil
• Location determination equipment: Any GPS (see wayfinding)
• Day pack: something that will hold XXX liters
• Gloves?

Base Station Supplies and Equipment

• Plant press:
• Plant press dividers & blotters:
• Plant press straps:
  • Note: Plant press kit (Herbarium supply @ $85.75)
• Plant press newspaper: Collect an ample supply of used newspaper near your field site.
• Plant drier: see the discussion on "Making a Plant Drier."
• Herbarium paper:
• Glue & brushes:
• Herbarium labels: