Herbarium
specimens spend most of their days shut away in climate-controlled cabinets
for preservation and study. Because few people get to see these beautiful
examples of plants, the Museum wants to share them through digital imaging.
Each specimen contains visual information in the parts of the plant
shown, and a written history in the lower right-hand corner from the
person who collected it, with notes by those who have studied it. The
specimens are from several years old to 160 years old. All of them were
collected in Illinois.
This
Web exhibit presents more than 350 herbarium specimens of trees and
prairie plants found in Illinois. The accompanying databases contain
entries for the 250 prairie plant herbarium sheets and the 50 tree herbarium
sheets pictured in the Photo Gallery, as well as the other 111,000 specimens
in the ISM Herbarium collection.
The Web exhibit
features a Photo Gallery Archive containing large digital photographs
of the herbarium specimen sheets and captions describing them in detail.
An introduction
to herbaria and description
of the Museum's herbarium describe how specimens are preserved
and used for study.
Viewers will also
find hands-on activities for individuals
and for the classroom. One can create a leaf collection and herbarium,
identify and classify plants and leaves, analyze plant adaptations,
create botanical paintings with traditional art media and with computer
software, and search for flower symbolism in art.
This database and
gallery expand the already rich botanical resources of ISM's MuseumLink
Illinois Prairie module and Forests of Illinois module.
(https://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink
)
