How to make a mounted plant collection in 10 easy steps

By Anita Merritt

Plant collecting is an interesting hobby, and a fun way to learn about plants. The finished collection will be attractive, informative, and long lasting. Sometimes collections are used for artistic purposes. I have seen some beautiful wall hangings made from pressed plants.

A pressed plant collection is known as an herbarium. A reference herbarium may contain all vascular plants in North America; a grass herbarium, only grass specimens; a local herbarium, only plants from a given area.

Once you have decided why you wish to make an herbarium and how you plan to use it, assemble the needed supplies, and begin to have some fun.

Step 1

Decide which plants you wish to collect. This will depend on how you plan to use your herbarium. Maybe you wish to make a local field guide of flowering plants.

Step 2

Locate a place where you can collect; perhaps the field behind your house. Obtain permission from the owner if you will be collecting on private land. Never collect rare or endangered species.

Step 3

When collecting, include at least two leaves where they connect to the stem and one or more flowers. A small plant can be pulled up by the roots.

Step 4

Clean the plant and arrange it on half a sheet of newspaper. Be sure that at least one leaf is bottom side up and one leaf is top side up. Many leaves look different on the top and bottom sides.

Step 5

In the margin of the newspaper, write the date, your name, the name of the plant, and the location. You will need this information later. Use a field notebook to record additional information you may want to remember.

Step 6

Fold the other half of the newspaper over the plant and place it between two sheets of cardboard in your plant press.

Repeat these 6 steps for each specimen in your collection.

Step 7

Tighten the straps over the boards of your press, and keep it in a warm dry place until the plants are dry and pressed flat. In a very humid area or when dealing with wet plants it may be necessary to change the newspapers several times to keep the plants from molding. Professional collectors often use blotters in addition to newspaper to speed up the drying process.

Step 8

Once the specimens are dried and pressed they can be mounted. Sew, glue or tape each plant to a sheet of paper. If you are using glue, cover with wax paper and repress until the glue dries.

Step 9

In the bottom right hand corner of the paper, record:

1. The common name of the plant
2. The scientific name of the plant
3. Your name
4. The collection date
5. The location.

This is standard information included in any professional herbarium collection.

Step 10

Store your herbarium sheets in a box, folder, or binder. It is a good idea to store a few moth balls with them to protect them from insect damage.

You now have a guide to the flowering plants in the field behind your house. As the years pass by, new plants will grow in the field. If you continue to collect new plants each year, you will eventually have a record of "plant succession" in the field.

You will need:

• A plant press
  approximately 12x18 inches
• Paper
  which is somewhat heavy and approximately 11x17 inches
• A mounting medium
  such as sewing thread, glue, or tape.
• Collecting tools
  such as a small hand trowel, pruning shears or pocket knife
• A field guide
  for plant identification
• A field notebook
  for recording information
• Pencil
  for taking notes
• A storage container
  such as a box, binder or folder

Need more information?

• Building a plant press
• Rare and endangered species
• Herbariums as a teaching tool
• Herbariums as art
• Field notebooks
• Advanced collecting techniques
• More detailed information