As I
mentioned before in other blogs, I study forestry, and in the first year, that
is, last year we were entrusted with the task of making a herbarium for the
course of botany. In it, we had to include a total of thirty plants, twenty of
native origin and ten of exotic origin.
A herbarium is a collection of dry and
classified plants, used as material for the study of botany. It basically
consists of three stages, the first is the collection of plants, for that a
scissor is used to prune as it is easier to cut a branch of the tree or shrub.
The second step is to place the sample between newspapers to absorb the water,
the idea is to dry it completely, and then smash, ideally have a press, but I
occupied very large and heavy books. Finally, once you are satisfied with the
aesthetic and drying results, the last step is to sew them on a piece of
cardboard in addition to identifying the specie collected, along with
characteristics of where it was taken, such as altitude or region, among others
things.
I
remember that I collected the majority of the native samples in the central
zone of the country, in sectors near the Andes mountain range and also in the
region of Valparaiso. For the exotic was very easy, since many trees that are
in the city are of exotic origin. I wasted about four months. It was a very fun
experience, I enjoyed going to different places with my friends. I can say it's
a job that I'm proud of.
This picture shows part of my herbarium and the "Quebrada de Macul" (one of the places where I went to collect)