ForestSite file:///Users/kensytsma/Courses/Botany%20401/401-Class/Handouts%202008/For...1 of 4 8/21/08 7:41 PMForest Study Site & Plant Collection Choose a forest site, as pristine as possible, for your study. To avoid problems, try to locateforest site up to 20 acres for which you can get permission (friend, relative, etc.) to enter andcollect a representative plant for each (non-rare) species that have adequate population sizes.Dane County or surrounding counties would be preferred (see the instructor if your site isfurther away). Working in groups of up to about four is helpful for both finding a site (if youare not from around this area) and car pooling. You will be required to recognize on site certainplant species that grow in your approximately 20 acre study site. This means that you should beable to provide the scientific name, the family name, and a common name for the plants. Speciesthat you should know include all angiosperms that come into flower before the final exam, alltrees and shrubs whether they flower or not, and the ferns, lycopods, and horsetails that areproducing spores. You can work singly or in small groups but each person will be responsible forhanding in a plant collection. The deadline for picking a site (and letting your lab instructorknow) is March 24 or 26– preferably sooner as some trees and herbs may already be flowering.This collection of dried, pressed, identified, and fully labeled plant specimens is due at the endof the semester and is required to pass the course. Your lab instructor will grade the collectionon the basis of (1) completeness of sampling for species in your site, (2) correctness ofidentification, (3) proper preparation of material (presence of flowers, fruits, or otherreproductive parts; representative leaves, stems, and roots if possible; pressing; and drying); (4)adequate labeling; and (5) mounting of 4 specimens (check with TA on what species should bemounted; previously collected specimens but unmounted by former students may be substitutedfor mounting as necessary).GUIDE TO PLANT COLLECTINGDo not collect in city, county, or state parks and other designated natural areas. Do not collectin the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. Collecting in these places require special permits,without which fines can be issued. Practice plant conservation in your collecting! Do not dig upentire plants, especially if you are unsure of whether the species is rare, endangered, orthreatened. Become acquainted with the DNR publication (available in lab) that lists these plantspecies. Be careful of plants in certain communities under current stewardship or study (mostprairies, including roadside remnants).Collecting the Plants1. Plants should be collected in flower or fruit (or other reproductive parts for non-floweringplants). Specimens without these reproductive organs are termed "sterile", and are not usuallyworth collecting.2. For small herbs, the entire plant should be collected, including the underground parts. Forlarge herbs, a portion of the underground parts, a part of the stem with attached leaves, plusthe inflorescence can make up the sample.ForestSite file:///Users/kensytsma/Courses/Botany%20401/401-Class/Handouts%202008/For...2 of 4 8/21/08 7:41 PM3. For woody plants, branches or twigs bearing leaves and flowers (or fruits or cones) aresampled. Leaves should be padded with extra paper so that the large twigs do not cause theleaves to curl while drying due to air-pockets in the press.4. Collections should be plentiful enough to nearly fill a folded newspaper sheet (except forsmall plants that are rare at the place where they were collected; in such cases this should beexplained on your label). The leaves and other plant organs should be spread out, before drying,to form a single layer as much as possible.Constructing the Plant Press1. The plant press is constructed out of 2 sheets of plywood (12 X 18 inches) as backing, layersof corrugated cardboard (corrugations run cross-wise not lengthwise), and one or two layers ofblotters between cardboard. The press is kept tightly closed by two straps or ropes.2. The plants are pressed within folded newspapers which are individually placed between twoblotters or between a blotter and cardboard if only one layer of blotters is used. The newspapermust be small enough to fit within the plywood backing and cardboard layers. Ideally, one tornsheet of newspaper (ca 23 X 14 inches) is folded in half crosswise (11 X 14 inches). Pressingplants within these dimensions will insure that the dried plants can be later mounted on thestandard herbarium sheets.3. Presses will be supplied to each student and must be returned to the lab instructor when thecollection is handed in.Pressing Procedures1. Plants can be collected in the field, trimmed to the appropriate size, immediately pressed innewspaper, placed between the two rigid ends of a plant press, and securely tightened. This"field press" can simply consist of the end boards and precut newspaper sheet. Later the sheetscan be placed within blotters and properly dried. Alternatively, the plants can be placed in bagsand pressed later. Some plants will quickly drop their petals or wilt so care must be taken thatthese plants are pressed soon.2. Roots should be cleaned and free of excess dirt before they are put into the press.3. Unwanted parts, dead leaves, extra roots or leaves, etc., should be trimmed off beforepressing.4. Plant parts should be arranged so there is as little overlap as possible; stems should be bentsharply and neatly to fit in the paper, not curved or twisted.5. Plants should not be layered or massed together within the newspaper. If the plant is toolarge to place in a single fold of newspaper, the plant my be divided into 2 or more sections,each pressed separately and indicated with the collection number and the phrase "1 of 2" or "2of 2", etc.6. A field notebook should be kept, in which all collections are numbered and all locality dataand other notes are written down. Your name and the collection number for each plant should bewritten, as well, on the front edge of the newspaper sheet in which it is pressed.Drying ProceduresIt is important that the specimens be thoroughly dried but not burned. This can be done byForestSite file:///Users/kensytsma/Courses/Botany%20401/401-Class/Handouts%202008/For...3 of 4 8/21/08 7:41 PMplacing the plant press over a heat source: heater vent, fan-driven space heater, radiator, lightbulbs, etc. Driers are
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