Reply To: Materia Medica
Hi Leigh Anne,
Thank you for your questions on assignment clarification. I love that you are leaning towards doing something you know nothing about because it will be a great learning process.
A few notes on the herbarium and what we would like to see.
1. Pick whichever plants you wish to work with, even if they aren’t at their peak. In another scenario, I would say plant presses are best when the plant is in flower to get it at it’s most identifiable and has the most of it’s characteristics, but really in this case, I feel like it’s also more important for you to connect to the plants that are calling you right now.
2. For the plant pressing process, here is a nice simple guide: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/diy-plant-pressing
3. You don’t have t use any specific paper for an at home herbarium, but it is nice to choose something that is quite thick/stiff.
4. Information on the herbarium sheet that we would be looking for are: Latin name, common name(s), date and location of collection, some of the identifying plant parts and a couple of short notes on the plants medicinal or other uses.
I hope this helps get you started. I look forward to seeing the results.
Benna