365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Herbarium Specimen
Day 217: I was a little unsure of protocol when I gathered two specimens of Tussilago farfara from the Park even though they were slated for removal, and decided that I'd better check with our Plant Ecologist before turning them over to the Invasive Plant Council. I'm glad I did, or I might have been guilty of a federal offense. Even noxious weeds growing within the boundaries of a national park are government property. I could have disposed of them in a government trash can, but I was prohibited from giving them away, even though both the IPC's and the Park's herbarium specimens eventually wind up at the UW's Burke Museum. After some discussion with Arnie regarding the irony of this situation, it was decided that I could keep them at home for pressing and drying, since he didn't have a place in his office where they wouldn't interfere with daily operations.
Per the instructions I had been given by the IPC, I placed the specimens between sheets of acid-free paper backed by newsprint and cardboard to absorb moisture. Stacks of encyclopaedias and dictionaries served as my press. Although I have not glued them down (I don't have the proper archival cement), they're ready to turn over to Arnie for further disposition. This was the best one, showing both the flowers as well as the leaf and root structure.
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