Background Information

Sandy Hook, New Jersey

The Sandy Hook Herbarium is located on the barrier island of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. It features a variety of pressed plants from the area. The Herbarium's collected plants are on display at sandyhookherbarium.org. Our missions is to educate the public about plants they would otherwise not have known. The information available to everyone is ideal for botanists, students, and all Sandy Hook visitors. The riker boxes and labels provide a hands-on experience, so anyone can hold the                                                                    actual specimen.

Scientific Drawing of a plant used
to identify plants in the field

Plant pressing is the process by which plant specimen are dried and preserved for display or transportation. The Sandy Hook Interactive Herbarium displays pressed plants in riker boxes with factual labels for identification for the nation park's visitors. Plants are collected along Sandy Hook trails various vegetative zones of the barrier island. zones such as thicket and tidal flats. After collection in the field, plants are identified using dichotomous keys, or illustrations and photographic references.

Wooden Plant Pressing

After identification, The specimens are flattened in a wooden plant press and left to dry for several weeks. All parts of the plants are involved in the press, including leaves flowers and roots. Silica gel packets are added to keep the plants dry. This results in the plants lasting indefinitely.

GPS device similar to the one used by our team. 

The coordinates are collected using Global Positioning Satellites in the field. The information is then included to a google map on the Herbarium website. Our website is the focal point of most of the information included in this project This enables each visitor to locate and visit each plant on their own.

Completed Riker Box

The label is added to each individual riker box. Each mounted specimen includes information such as scientific name, common name, location, and size. The labels may include pictures of the plant in the wild for identification for visitors. A QR code is featured on each box. The QR codes can be scanned by smartphones for additional information available on the Sandy Hook Herbarium's website.  

The Sandy Hook Herbarium group is looking forward to providing the public with informative and accessible botanical facts. This will be a valuable source for Sandy Hook visitors and botanists worldwide for years to come.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/plant_info/identifying_plants/processing_plant_specimens/Preserving_plant_specimens

            This is the website from The Royal Botanical Gardens & Domain Trust in Sydney, Australia. The botanists there dry their specimens with microwave ovens. They also use our method of pressing a drying using wooden pressers and silica gel. The botanists offer advice about long term storage and preservation.

http://msuextension.org/publications/AgandNaturalResources/MT198359AG.pdf

            This is a webpage form the Montana State University about how to collect, press and mount plants. They feature the same plant pressed we use, along with guidelines. They include details about label construction and what information to include.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening/uploads/documents/Making%20a%20herbarium%20specimen%20leaflet_1638.pdf

            This is the PDF guide from the Redwood Health Services about how to mount and press plants specifically for display in a professional Herbarium. This source includes pictures of scientists working in the field and detailed lists of what to include in each label.

http://www.brit.org/herbarium/plantcollecting/press

            This is the plant pressing guide from the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. They have advice about how to effectively dry your specimens after pressing them in the press. They describe the mounting process.

http://herbarium.usu.edu/k-12/collecting/specimens.htm

            This is the website from the Utah State University with specific information about creating labels for the boxes after plants are mounted. They offer advice on how to avoid insects ruining your specimens.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herbarium/voucher.htm

            This is a website from the Florida State Herbarium on how to create a professional voucher plant specimen. They provide information on plant identification and where to display your plants. They give a lot of information about what information to include in labels.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pic/preserving_plants.htm

            This is a website from the Plant Information Center focusing specifically how to create Labels for specimens. They give examples and pictures of real pressed plant labels.  

http://www.botany.unimelb.edu.au/herbarium/files/MakeHerbSpec.pdf

            This is the website from the University of Melbourne about how to press plants and what to include in each label. They offer information about where to place labels on the boxes and how to position them with the dried specimens.

http://www.nps.gov/Plants/sos/training/How%20to%20Create%20a%20Herbarium%20Label.pdf

            The US National Park Service offers information about how to press and label Herbarium specimen. It is simpler than other University-based Herbarium websites but is still gives general information about the importance of pressing plants properly.

http://www.herbarium.lsu.edu/makingherbspecimen.html

      This is the website from the Louisiana State University. They detail how to create professional labels concerning what to include and what to omit for each specimen, depending on the type.