A Day at the Herbarium
A day at the Herbarium
Oh Happy Day! I’ve found heavenly place to hang out–the herbarium!
I’ve been fascinated by herbariums for a couple of years now, plant nerd that I am, but had never had a chance to actually visit one…until now.
Last week, I not only had a chance to see a real, live herbarium, but I also got to create actual specimens too! And now I am an official volunteer at the Western Carolina University (WCU) Herbarium.
So what exactly is an herbarium?
An herbarium is basically a collection of dried plant specimens for scientific study.
Think of it like a library, only plants instead of books. Botanists from all over the world have engaged in this practice of collecting and pressing plants since the 16th century when Luca Ghini, a professor of medicine and botany, introduced the idea.
Here’s why they are important…
Scientists use these plant repositories to study biodiversity, ecology, genetics, evolution, and population change over time. Today they are also extremely useful for gathering information about climate change.
Another cool thing about herbaria (pl) is that they come with a long-standing tradition of gift and exchange. Botanists who collect more than one specimen will often gift or exchange with other herbarium collections. So, in any given collection you will find plants from all over the world. I just love this idea and think it’s one of the things that makes herbariums so interesting–that herbaria seed other herbaria.
WCU Herbarium
So after two years of (pandemic) reading about herbaria, I decided it was high time to actually see one. I did a little web research and found that nearby Western Carolina University has a rather extensive herbarium collection of about 31,000 specimens. It was started by professor Clinton Dodson in 1953, and today is one of the largest herbaria of the Southern Appalachian region.
I reached out to director Kathy Mathews, to learn more.
The WCU Herbarium
What I learned is that the WCU Herbarium is not only the repository for the Blue Ridge Parkway’s collection, it also holds a collection for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and has the largest collection of flora from a very unique habitat: the Southern Highland Balds. Wow! That’s impressive.
Thanks to the work of former director, Dan Pittillo, the collection has approx 1,400 specimens from these high elevation (2,000-5,700 ft) habitats. This is important because many of the flora from these areas are both rare and endangered. The Highland Bald habitats are the last remaining vestiges of what life was like before the last Ice Age. They are, in essence, time capsules and scientists are monitoring them and trying to save them as global warming threatens their existence.
the Blue Ridge Parkway
At the end of our conversation, I asked Kathy if she ever needed volunteers to help with her herbarium. She said she typically relies on students to help them manage and digitize the collection, but I think she sensed my enthusiasm, and invited me to come to her next specimen mounting workshop.
WCU Herbarium
A Day at the Herbarium
I got a little turned around on campus with all the new construction, but I finally found the spot. The herbarium is housed in the shiny, new Apodaca science building. When I got there, Kathy was busy with the digitizing equipment—which wasn’t lighting up on one side. She explained that the equipment had been funded by a grant she had written to digitize the collection. Many herbaria are digitizing their collections to allow for greater access. Like libraries, herbaria loan-out specimens for scientific study, but digitizing gives scientists around the world almost immediate access to data.
Herbarium Cabinets
Kathy gave me a quick tour of the herbarium facilities and then introduced me to the specimen prep room. She walked me through the process: stamping the specimen papers, checking label information, choosing the best specimen, arranging them on the paper and finally, the gluing protocol.
Dan Pittillo’s Field Specimens
On this day, I was working with specimens that had been collected, none-other than, by Dan Pittillo himself! Dan was an avid collector and it felt like a real honor to be working with his actual specimens. As I read the labels, I imagined him out in the field collecting. After all, he collected everywhere he went–from the stream banks of remote locations in state parks, to the weedy patches of random parking lots, and even from his own garden. His enthusiasm was apparent in the far-flung variety of specimens I uncovered with each fold of newspaper. I asked Kathy if she knew exactly how many specimens in the collection were his. She said she has no idea and even asked him, and he had no idea! It’s definitely in the thousands.
My first mounted specimen!
Each grouping had two plant specimens. Kathy explained that I should only mount one example. She would offer up the unmounted specimen to other herbariums. There it is again, that time-honored tradition of botanical etiquette!
At first, I was a little slow and overly careful. I always am when learning a new skill, but after a couple hours, my pace had picked up a bit. Of course, the most satisfying part for me was creating an aesthetically pleasing arrangement. That’s what I love most about herbarium specimens, after all I’m coming to this as an artist, not a botanist. I have trouble putting words to it, but I just love to see how the specimens lay on the page. The lines and awkward angles, the play of negative and positive space. It will never get old for me. Here are some of the plants I mounted:
Pittillo Herbarium Specimen
Pittillo Herbarium Specimen
Pittillo Herbarium Specimen
Pittillo Herbarium Specimen
When it was time to go, I was a little disappointed that I had not gotten to the bottom of this particular Pittillo pile. I suspect there are many more piles like it—but I had school pick up duty and it was time to call it a day.
I’m looking forward to next month’s visit, when I hope to get a look at some of the collection’s older specimens.
In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about herbaria, there are two books I would recommend. The first is, Herbarium: the Quest to Preserve & Classify the World’s Plants, by Barbara Thiers and the second is, Field Study: Meditations on a Year at the Herbarium, by Helen Humphreys.
Please let me know if you have read either of these books—I would love to hear what you thought of them. And if you have any other information or thoughts you would like to share about herbaria, please let me know in the comments below! I’d love to connect with other plant nerds who love these heavenly places too!
WCU Herbarium: Rhododendron Painting
