A Museum of Vegetation: Centuries of Dried Flora and Fungi on the New York Botanical Backyard’s Herbarium

I like the New York Botanical Backyard: the frothy pink cherry blossoms and vibrant azaleas in spring, the luxurious native plant backyard dotted with birds, the majestic outdated bushes rising all through the panorama’s 250 acres. I’ve been visiting since I used to be a baby, and at all times come away with a brand new fascination. One in every of my latest discoveries is the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, an under-the-radar treasure trove established across the time the backyard was created in 1891. I talked with Dr. Emily Sessa, the herbarium’s director, to be taught extra about it.

“An herbarium is a museum of vegetation that paperwork biodiversity,” says Sessa. The gathering, one of many largest on this planet, comprises practically eight million specimens of pressed and dried flora—flowering vegetation, conifers, ferns, mosses, algae, and liverworts (together with a variety collected by Charles Darwin within the Galapagos), in addition to fungi and lichens—from across the globe, relationship again to the 1600s. “It’s like a time machine. You’ll be able to stroll into the herbarium, open a cupboard, and never know whether or not you’re going to be in 1950 or 1750 and whether or not you’re going to be in London, Rio Janeiro, or Accra,” Sessa says. “It’s a tremendous approach to discover time and house through vegetation.”

Every specimen captures a second in time. “When scientists are within the area, we at all times journey with a plant press, corrugated cardboard, and newspaper,” Sessa says concerning the accumulating course of. “The know-how hasn’t actually modified a lot through the years.” When urgent, a scientist is cautious to indicate each side of a leaf, or if it’s a flowering plant, show each the fruit and the flower. After accumulating and meticulously labeling every merchandise, they bring about the press, packed filled with vegetation, to an herbarium the place the specimen can be dried (“humidity and dampness are the most important enemy,” says Sessa). Then it’s mounted on acid-free paper.

From there, the paperwork assist scientists around the globe analysis every thing from DNA sequencing to plant conservation. “We are able to’t make choices about which species to preserve or which areas to guard if we don’t know what’s there,” says Sessa. It might assist monitor invasives by exhibiting how a species spreads over time. As an illustration, the New York Botanical Backyard (NYBG) has the primary documented specimen in North America of purple loosestrife, the gorgeous however aggressive purple flower that has been invading our wetlands. “We are able to map the way it has unfold decade by decade,” she says. Scientists can also exhibit the results of local weather change on vegetation by monitoring bloom occasions of a particular species discovered within the herbarium, noting, for instance, how 30 years in the past sure vegetation that flowered in June at the moment are blooming in Might. And it may be used to assist discover artistic options for local weather issues. One scientist just lately got here to pattern vegetation to analysis fireplace resilience. “The herbarium can be utilized for all types of fascinating purposes,” says Sessa.

An effective way to get acquainted with the herbarium is although The Hand Lens, the weblog written by Sessa and her group. It highlights notable items from the gathering, with entries corresponding to Plantways of the Lenape Individuals and NYBG 2021 New Species Assessment. Guests to the NYBG may also make an appointment to tour the Herbarium with a employees member. However you may at all times entry the digital C. V. Starr Digital Herbarium any time you need to probe for your self. Here’s a number of specimens from the gathering, with descriptions from the NYBG.

Images courtesy of the C. V. Starr Digital Herbarium of The New York Botanical Backyard.