Comments on: Herbarium specimen preparation of succulent plants

By: Antony Kusabs

Antony Kusabs — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:17:23 +0000

I’m relatively new to preparing succulents as specimens. I’m interested in finding the method which results in specimens true to form with as much scientific value (e.g. intact DNA tissue) as possible. A South Australian colleague, expert in this area, will publish his treatment of Australian fereal opuntioids later in the year. I’ll be sure to reference it, so watch this space.

By: Antony Kusabs

Antony Kusabs — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:26:35 +0000

Thanks Matt. I’ll try freezing next time. Good point regarding DNA. The method I described was also labour intensive, but fun.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 02:32:55 +0000

Ok, in South Africa, home to many Crassulaceae and Aizoaceae, I froze to burst cells and there kill plants and making the water more “releasable”. I then dried as per standard procedure, just replacing blotting (news) paper on a daily basis to begin with. Rather labour intensive, but no nicking of leaves, etc. Also so-doing, you have more tissue on the sheet to potentially sample for DNA analyses.