§ 2 Herbarium
567. The botanist’s collection of dried specimens, ticketed with their names, place, and time of collection, and systematically arranged under their genera, orders, etc., forms a Hortus Siccus or Herbarium. It comprises not only the specimens which the proprietor has himself collected, but those which he acquires through friendly exchanges, or in other ways. The specimens of an herbarium may be kept in folded sheets of paper; or they may be fastened on half-sheets of thick and white paper, either by gummed slips, or by glue applied to the specimens themselves. The former is best for private and small herbaria; the latter for large ones which are much turned over. Each sheet should be appropriated to one species; two or more different plants should never be attached to the same sheet. The generic and specific name of the plant should be added to the lower right-hand corner, either written on the sheet, or on a ticket pasted down; and the time of collection, the locality, the color of the flowers, and any other information which the specimens themselves do not afford, should be duly recorded upon the sheet or the ticket. The sheets of the herbarium should all be of exactly the same dimensions. The herbarium of Linnæus is on paper of the common foolscap size, about eleven inches long and seven wide. This is too small. Sixteen and three eighths inches by eleven and a half inches is an approved size.
568. The sheets containing the species of each genus are to be placed in genus-covers, made of a full sheet of thick paper (such as the strongest Manilla-hemp paper), to be when folded of the same dimensions as the species-sheet but slightly wider: the name of the genus is to be written on one of the lower corners. These are to be arranged under the orders to which they belong, and the whole kept in closed cases or cabinets, either laid flat in compartments, like “pigeon-holes,” or else placed in thick portfolios, arranged like folio volumes. All should be kept, as much as practicable, in dust-proof and insect-proof cases or boxes.
569. Fruits, tubers, and other hard parts, too thick for the herbarium, may be kept in pasteboard or light wooden boxes, in a collection apart. Small loose fruits, seeds, detached flowers, and the like may be conveniently preserved in paper capsules or envelopes, attached to the herbarium-sheets.