Collecting

[Mary Barkworth]

Several comments have been made about the need to persuade consultants to
collect voucher specimens, but it is not just consultants that need
persuasion.  I recently asked where a student had deposited the voucher
specimens for a habitat study that was conducted under the auspices of the
US Forest Service.  There were no voucher specimens. I do not know whether
this was exceptional, but I suspect not.  Why were there no voucher
specimens prepared? There was no time and, obviously, no one on the
committee considered them of any importance.  I was not on that committee,
but I confess to forgetting to demand voucher specimens from a plant
breeding thesis committee that I was on.  Mea culpa!


Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University, 5305 Old Main Hill, Logan,
Utah 84322-5305, U.S.A.
mary at biology.usu.edu; 435-797-1584 (voice); 435-797-1575 (FAX)