Quiz Time/1

1) How a plant specimen collected for an analysis?

2) What is a representative sample?

3) What are herbarium specimens?
Briefly explain methods of herbarium specimen preparation.

1) When plant specimens are collected, first you should have a thorough idea of the parts of the plant. A leaf is made up of a leaf blade and a petiole. petiole is the stalk attached to the blade. A compound leaf may have several leaflets attached to it. in some cases only the terminal leaflets are sampled. when collecting, detach the leaf form the petiole as to stop the translocation of nutrients.
*Make sure you collect a good specimen and also collect as many parts of the plant as possible- ( Leaves, flowers, twigs, fruits, seeds etc)
Finally the collected plants should be labelled properly and should be stored in a zip bag and preserved.

2) A representative sample is a subset of a statistical population that accurately reflects the members of the entire population. A representative sample should be an unbiased indication of what the population is like. In a classroom of 30 students in which half the students are male and half are female, a representative sample might include six students: three males and three females.

3) A herbarium specimen is a dried or pressed sample of a plant or fungus that can be stored for future references.
There are two main elements to a herbarium specimen: the label and the specimen itself. Different methods of preparation are used for specimens of plants, fungi, lichens, bryophytes and algae. Information required on the label is similar for all groups.
when labelling the collectors name, a unique collecting number, date of collection, locality and the geocode should be given.

Plant specimen : take specimens large enough to present a fair sample of the plant, its manner of growth, branching and so on.
With smaller plants, such as grasses collect whole plants (or a number of entire plants) including underground parts (i.e. bulbs, corms, rhizomes) still attached to aerial parts of plant.
Specimens should be pressed when fresh (i.e. in the field). This results in better herbarium specimens, making them easier to identify.
When pressing a specimen, carefully spread out structures (i.e. leaves, flowers) so that diagnostic features are clearly evident. Make sure that both the upper and the lower leaf surface are visible by turning over some leaves.

Bryophyte specimens: (mosses, liverworts)

Collect fertile material with capsules, if possible.
Collect at least a 4 × 4 cm patch.
Place collection in a paper envelope (never plastic) and air dry as rapidly as possible in a well-ventilated area. Do not press the specimens.
Bryophytes can often be found growing intertwined. It is important to check carefully that capsules belong to the plant that they seem to be growing from.

Lichen specimens:

Simply place the lichen specimen in a paper bag or envelope. Do not place in plastic bags. Dry in a well ventilated area, as rapidly as possible.
Collect some of the substrate, such as rock or wood, but trim excess substrate.

2.A subset of a statistical population that accurately reflects the members of the entire population. which should be unbiased.

3. Is a collection of preserved plant specimens.