BIOLOGY PROJECT

Creation of Herbarium Sheets

NAME: TUSHAR SUBHRA MALAKAR

BOARD ROLL NO.:
CLASS: XII SEC: A
SESSION: 2021-2022

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 HEM SHEELA MODEL SCHOOL
DURGAPUR

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF AISSCE-2021

NAME OF STUDENT: TUSHAR SUBHRA MALAKAR

BOARD ROLL NUMBER:
CLASS: XII SECTION: A
SESSION: 2021-2022

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks to our Principal madam Miss.

Anindita Home Choudhury, who gave me the golden opportunity to do
this wonderful project on the topic Creation of Herbarium Sheets, which
also helped me to do a lot of research and I came to know about so many
new things.

The completion of this undertaking could have not been possible without
the assistance of Mrs. Paromita Roy madam (HOD Biology), Mrs.
Mekhala Das madam.

I extend my gratefulness and thank our lab assistant sir Mr. Amalesh
Manna, who always made our practical classes hassle free with his
constant presence of mind and helpful attitude.

I take this opportunity to thank my parents who helped me a lot in

finalizing this project with resources and lots of motivation.

Signature of student:

Signature of internal examiner:

Signature of external examiner :

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 INDEX

SL. NO. TOPIC PAGE

1. Introduction 05

2. About Herbarium 06-08

3. Procedure 09

4. Observation 10

5. Frequently Asked Questions 11

6. Conclusion 12

7. Bibliography 13

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 INTRODUCTION

A herbarium is a collection of carefully preserved, pressed plants stored

in special cabinets in a climate-controlled room. Herbarium is also the
name for the building or facility in which the collection is stored. Many
natural history museums, universities, and natural history surveys have
herbaria. Herbarium specimens include plants, conifers, ferns, mosses,
liverworts and algae as well as fungi and lichens. Most plant specimens
are dried by pressing whereas bulkier plants and most fungi are dried
without pressing and are stored in boxes.

The herbarium is defined as a storehouse of collected plant specimens.

These plant specimens are dried, pressed and are then preserved in
sheets. These sheets are then stored and arranged in a sequence that is
universally accepted by the system of classification. The herbarium
botany comes under taxonomical studies. Taxonomic studies are the
collection and preservation of the actual specimens of plants and animals.
This becomes a prime source for taxonomic studies. The taxonomic study
of a newly discovered organism is done by collecting its actual specimen
and then identifying and classifying them.

These sheets are preserved carefully for future use. They carry a label on
the right-hand side at the lower corner and the label provides the
following information:
 The date on which the specimen was collected.
 The English name of the specimen.
 The family of the specimen.
 The name of the collector who collected the specimen. 
 The place from which the specimen was collected. 
 The local name of the specimen.

ABOUT HERBERIUMS

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A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of
preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in
dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called "exsiccatae") but,
depending upon the material, may also be stored in boxes or kept in
alcohol or other preservative The specimens in a herbarium are often
used as reference material in describing plant taxa; some specimens may
be types.
The same term is often used in mycology to describe an equivalent
collection of preserved fungi, otherwise known as
a fungarium. A xylarium is a herbarium specialising in specimens of
wood.The term hortorium (as in the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium) has
occasionally been applied to a herbarium specialising in preserving
material of horticultural origin.

History
The making of herbaria is an age-old
phenomenon. The oldest traditions of making
herbarium collections or Horti sicci have been
traced to Italy. Luca Ghini and his students
created herbaria of which the oldest extant
one is that of Gherardo Cibo from around
1532. While most of the early herbaria were
prepared with sheets bound into books, Carolus Linnaeus came up with
the idea of maintaining them on free sheets that allowed their easy re-
ordering within cabinets.

Specimen preservation

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Commensurate with the need to identify the specimen, it is essential to
include in a herbarium sheet as much of the
plant as possible (e.g., roots, flowers, stems,
leaves, seed, and fruit), or at least
representative parts of them in the case of
large specimens. To preserve their form and
colour, plants collected in the field are
carefully arranged and spread flat between
thin sheets, known as 'flimsies', (equivalent
to sheets of newsprint) and dried, usually in
a plant press, between blotters or absorbent paper.
During the drying process the specimens are retained within their flimsies
at all times to minimise damage, and only the thicker, absorbent drying
sheets are replaced. The specimens, which are then mounted on sheets
of stiff white paper, are labelled with all essential data, such as date and
place found, description of the plant, altitude, and special habitat
conditions. The sheet is then placed in a protective case. As a precaution
against insect attack, the pressed plant is frozen or poisoned, and the
case disinfected.

Collections management
Most herbaria utilize a standard system of
organizing their specimens into herbarium cases.
Specimen sheets are stacked in groups by
the species to which they belong and placed into a
large lightweight folder that is labelled on the
bottom edge. Groups of species folders are then
placed together into larger, heavier folders
by genus. The genus folders are then sorted by
taxonomic family according to the standard
system selected for use by the herbarium and
placed into pigeonholes in herbarium cabinets.
Locating a specimen filed in the herbarium
requires knowing the nomenclature and classification used by the

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herbarium. It also requires familiarity with possible name changes that
have occurred since the specimen was collected, since the specimen may
be filed under an older name.
Modern herbaria often maintain electronic databases of their collections.
Many herbaria have initiatives to digitize specimens to produce a virtual
herbarium. These records and images are made publicly accessible via
the Internet when possible.

Uses
Herbarium collections can have great significance and value to science,
and have many uses. Herbaria have long been essential for the study
of plant taxonomy, the study of geographic distributions, and the
stabilizing of nomenclature. Specimens housed in herbaria may be used
to catalogue or identify the flora of an area. A large collection from a
single area is used in writing a field guide or manual to aid in the
identification of plants that grow there. With more specimens available,
the author or the guide will better understand the variability of form in
the plants and the natural distribution over which the plants grow.
Herbaria also preserve a historical record of change in vegetation over
time. In some cases, plants become extinct in one area or may become
extinct altogether. In such cases, specimens preserved in a herbarium can
represent the only record of the plant's original distribution.
Environmental scientists make use of such data to track changes
in climate and human impact. They may also be a repository of viable
seeds for rare species.
Herbaria have also proven very useful as source of plant DNA for use in
taxonomy and molecular systematics. Even ancient fungaria represent a
source for DNA-barcoding of ancient samples.

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 PROCEDURE

The following steps are usually adopted for preserving a plant specimen
in the form of an herbarium sheet.

 The live plant is collected from the field.

 It is dried by placing them in between newspaper and cardboard
sheets for several days.
 Once it is nicely dried and turned brown we take it out and mount
on herbarium sheets.
 we label the specimen and write down the place of collection, date,
scientific name and collector’s name.

These herbarium sheets are kept in large shelves in buildings for

serving as ready reference materials for taxonomists and researchers.

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 OBSERVATION

While performing the experiment it has been observed certain items and
came across various new information regarding the medical plants. There
are various plants near our house that acts as medicines and provide
immediate solution when used. The medicinal values of these natural
items doesn’t have any side effects as well. There are various medicinal
leaves that are readily available in our households.

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 FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. How are Herbaria Classified?

Answer: The herbaria are classified into 2 types:

 Major or National herbaria: It covers the flora of the world and this
can serve as the purpose of research. This can also serve the
purpose of identification.
 Minor herbaria: Regional herbaria that are smaller herbaria are
included in minor herbaria. The local area serves the purpose of
smaller herbaria for the district or a very small area. A college or
university herbaria serves the purpose of herbarium for students of
graduation and post-graduation. 

2. What are the Botanical Gardens?

Answer: These are the institutions

that are located in an enclosed space.
On this enclosed piece of land,
numerous kinds of plants are grown
and obtained. It is one of the ex-situ
strategies for the conservation of
plants. The plants are identified and
they are labelled according to the
scientific names and classification. List
of some botanical gardens are: 

 Royal Botanical Garden, Kew.

 Indian Botanical Garden, Howrah
 National Botanical Garden, Lucknow
 Lloyd Botanical Garden, Darjeeling 

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 CONCLUSION

Herbaria are essential for the study of plant taxonomy, the study of
geographic distributions, and the stabilizing of nomenclature. Thus, it is
desirable to include in a specimen as much of the plant as possible (e.g.,
flowers, stems, leaves, seed, and fruit). Linnaeus's herbarium now
belongs to the Linnean Society in England. Specimens housed in herbaria
may be used to catalogue or identify the flora of an area. A large
collection from a single area is used in writing a field guide or manual to
aid in the identification of plants that grow there. With more specimens
available, the author of the guide will better understand the variability of
form in the plants and the natural distribution over which the plants
grow. As a fundamental tool for plant taxonomy, herbaria play other roles
in plant conservation efforts. The simple act of correctly identifying a
plant species is necessary for conservation, providing the language (Latin
names) for biologists of far-flung regions and ethnicities to be able to
accurately communicate with each other. Herbaria facilitate taxonomic
studies by enabling collections from diverse habitats and localities to be
studied in one place. Plant species vary in size and shape across their
geographical range, and this variation can be observed and studied easily
in a herbarium. Herbaria also serve as a place to deposit voucher
specimens from scientific studies where the correct identification of a
plant is essential.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 www.google.com
 Wikipedia.org
 https://www.google.com/search?
q=itroduction+herberium+making&sxsrf=AOaemvIqWEOInQsalWYp7Ue
xXGx5cexhdw%3A1635845594731&ei=2gWBYan-
K8ziz7sPwLyrIA&oq=itroduction+herberium+making&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mt
d2l6EAMyBQgAEM0CMgUIABDNAjIFCAAQzQIyBQgAEM0COgcIABBHELA
DOgQIABANOggIABAIEA0QHkoECEEYAFCEP1jyVmC-
d2gBcAF4AIAB3wGIAdIRkgEFMC45LjOYAQCgAQHIAQjAAQE&sclient=gws
-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwip09Lcr_nzAhVM8XMBHUDeCgQQ4dUDCA4&uact=5
 https://www.gettyimages.in/photos/herbarium

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