Celebrate 140 years of the Canandaigua Botanical Society!
Canandaigua Botanical Society Herbarium
Indoor presentation at FLCC - room C 220
We’ve seen the extensive species
collection of the Rochester Academy of Science Herbarium at the Rochester Museum and Science Center,
but did you know that the Canandaigua Botanical Society also has
an herbarium? I've know about the Canandaigua Botanical Society for the past 15
years. I've heard about the collection of botanical specimens collected
long ago by Canandaigua Botanical Society members...but I've yet to see
this collection. Please come to learn about and view the Canandaigua
Botanical Society Herbarium with Dr. Bruce Gilman.
 |
| Opening a press |
 |
| Looking for specimens worth mounting |
The Herbarium was established at FLCC in 1976 with plant
materials from field botany. Collections
were made for class projects. The
herbarium holds plants indoors for teaching and learning.
The 4th largest herbarium in the world is at the
NY Botanical Gardens where cabinets are on tracks.
The Herbarium at FLCC is for teaching and documenting types
of plants in this region. Current
holdings include 15,000 individual sheets.
A vasculum is often used in the field to collect specimens
as it prevents wilting before mounting.
Typically, plants collected in the field are set between blotter
paper (newspapers) and corrugated cardboard where they are then pressed for
several days before mounting. Tightening plants in a press for three days
allows specimens to retain color nicely. The FLCC plant presses were made with
recycled boards and are held together with straps.
Bruce and Thomas gave a demonstration on how to mount
specimens onto 12x18 - 100% cotton herbarium sheets (~$.70 each) using gummed
linen tape that will hold items for 100 years.
Each mount should then have a label.
Scientific
Name: Class/Order/Family/Genus/Species
Common
Name:
Family:
Habitat:
Locality:
where plant was collected
City, County, State
Date: of
collection
Collector:
and Number:
The label information can then be entered into a database.
Bruce mentioned that students often use the NY Natural
Heritage Program manual to determine habitat: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/29338.html
Bruce showed us the cabinets where the mounted specimens are
kept. Mounted specimens are in folders
according to species and are alphabetized by families.
 |
| We located trout lily of Maya Hobday |
Many species ‘unpressable’ and can not be mounted easily but
are still valuable specimens in the herbarium collection. Examples include bark, fruit, seeds, fossils, fungi,
and twig samples. These are kept in cardboard
containers, paper bags, and trays.