Plant Pressing Alternative Solutions

In a Herbarium, plant specimen are pressed in individual Riker boxes. The Riker boxes preserve the plants after they have been pressed. Riker boxes display important information about the specimen on the labels, such as the scientific name, size and general characteristics. There are multiple methods of displaying plants in the boxes.

Alternative Solution 1:

Flowers are included separately
 to show details

              The purpose of pressing plants is to display them in a way that is identifiable. When identifying plants, some of the factors to look for are size, shape or color of the plant. Most dichotomous keys or field guides depend upon the plant's most obvious identifying features, such as leaves, buds or flowers. Including these details in the Riker boxes is extremely important in making sure the plants are accurate representations of the wild specimen one might find on Sandy Hook.

This method of pressing the plants is to display the stem and leaves separately from the flowers, buds, berries or other special or unique features. The features would be included in the same Riker box.  Displaying the features off to the side of the box gives the viewer the opportunity to view closer details. Pressing flowers separately from the rest of the plant allows us to use a larger flower from a different specimen, 
which gives the advantage of displaying greater detail. 

The viewer is given the advantage of seeing the characteristics

 of these features from different angles, which will

 makes recognizing the plants in the wild easier for visitors. 

Representation of a pressed
plant with additional details

These unique characteristics are vital to anyone viewing the Riker boxes. In order to effectively and accurately display the plants, the boxes must include as much detail of as many characteristics as possible. Displaying the features separately allows the general public recognize the plants and identify the specimen. 

This solution offers benefits and drawbacks. Pressing plants in this matter is labor-intensive. Positioning the specimen in the plant press in a matter that will display each feature separately will demand a great deal of skill from our team of plant pressers. Expertise is required to display plants in the Riker Box in an understandable manner. However, this solution results in more informative and identifiable samples of the specimen. 

Alternative Solution 2:

Specimen pressed to display root system

The Sandy Hook Interactive Herbarium provides a resource for the general public and professional botanists alike. Because of this, every specimen must be perfectly accurate and display every detail of the specimen, including roots. Currently, plants in the Herbarium are pressed without roots. During the collection process, plants are clipped at the base of their stems with their roots excluded. 

This method of pressing plants allows the entire plant to be displayed, including their underground portion. This provides more information to each viewer, rather than simply showing the portion of the plant that is usually visible. Roots give evidence of the vegetative zone in which the plants live, as it can be indicative of the type of soil in which they grow. 

Specimen with roots before
the pressing process

This solution involves altering the collection process. Plants must be unearthed from the ground by digging in order to preserve the root portion of the specimen. After collection, the intricate root systems must be rinsed clean in order to remove any extraneous materials such as soil, sand or insects. Pressed plant specimen with roots provide the most informative display.  
This solution offers benefits and drawbacks. More time must be spent collecting plants in the field in order to carefully dig up root systems. Pressing plants will now include an extra step of cleaning the roots. The Riker boxes will be more informative and the specimen itself will be indicative of its vegetative zone. 

Alternative Solution 3:

Riker box displaying only stems
 and leaves of original specimen

In the Sandy Hook Interactive Herbarium, there are many current plant specimens available. Each Riker Box displays the plant with stems, leaves and any unique characteristic or feature in tact. Only the portion of the plant generally visible in the wild is able to be viewed in the Riker Box. The important information of the plant is described on the Riker Box's label. 

This method of pressing plants results in each box being more organized. The empty space created by omitting the extraneous features causes the Riker Box to appear more concise. The viewer is not overwhelmed by a lot of factual information at once.

Plant specimen on display in
Sandy Hook Herbarium

Unique characteristics of each individual specimen are displayed as flatly and as clearly as possible. No additional features are added in the Riker box with the plant specimen. Only the part that is cut from the wild specimen is pressed and displayed. This method of
pressing plants is relatively accurate. Flowers and leaves are a good indication of the species, and leaf arrangement or leaf type are identifiable in a Field Guide. 

This method lacks details of the root systems. Pressing plants in this manner also lacks details of any unique characteristics such as flowers, berries or buds, because these features are only able to be viewed from one angle. This is one of the most widely used methods of Herbaria around the world, and presents many benefits with few drawbacks. Plant collections are efficient. The display is more concise but lacks more specific details and therefore may lack accuracy. 

There are many methods of preserving plants in Riker Boxes. Alternative Solution 1 involves pressing unique features and characteristics separately from the rest of the plant. Alternative Solution 2 involves pressing the roots and underground portion of the plant specimen. Alternative Solution 3 involves pressing only the above ground portion of the plant with no additional features.