3.4 Museum Accessioning

• After competent identification, every plant voucher specimen must be deposited in either the Royal BC Museum or the University of British Columbia Vascular Plant Herbaria (and other herbaria if extra material is available).
• Plant vouchers will be accepted only if they are properly pressed and dried on collection sheets with the accompanying labels.
• If the plant voucher(s) becomes part of the herbarium's permanent collection, it will be mounted on a standard herbarium sheet. (There are exceptions to this standard such as in the case of collecting large conifer cones or other plant parts that simply cannot be adapted to fit on standard herbarium sheets or stored in standard herbarium cabinets.) Generally, the Royal BC Museum will mount the specimens onto acid-free herbarium sheets as required.

Royal BC Museum Contacts:
Joan Kerik, Botany and Fossil Collections Manager
Phone (250) 387-2924	Fax (250) 387-0534	Email jkerik@rbml01.rbcm.gov.bc.ca
John Pinder-Moss, Botany and Mineral Collections Manager
Phone (250) 387-2918	Fax (250) 387-0534	Email jpindermoss@rbml01.rbcm.gov.bc.ca
UBC Herbarium Contacts:
Dr. Fred Ganders, Herbarium Director
Phone (604) 822-5862		Email ganders@unixg.ubc.ca
Olivia Lee, Herbarium Curator
Phone (604) 822-3344		Email olivia@interchange.ubc.ca

3.5 Materials and Costs

If the plant voucher(s) becomes part of a herbarium's permanent collection, they will need to be mounted on standard herbarium sheets. If the collection is only needed for a short time and it is not necessary for the specimens to be mounted, only storage at the desired herbarium may be required. Cost will depend on the specific requirements of each collection, and the storage and/or preparation fees applied by individual herbariums. Below is information on preparation and storage costs for the Royal BC Museum.

3.5.1 Royal BC Museum

The costs for preparing (mounting the specimens onto herbarium sheets as required), maintaining and storage of plant voucher specimens at the Royal BC Museum have been estimated. This estimate does not include the costs of collection, identification or drying of the specimens that normally occurs before submission, extraordinary conservation measures, or security, etc.; it does include the capital costs of building construction and the amortized costs of such things as asbestos removal; also included are the costs of heat, light, property taxes, etc. As the total costs contain components for salaries, materials and the purchasing of storage cabinets they may be expected to rise with inflation; also they may be modified based on future cost experience.

Table 1. Initial plant preparation costs (per herbarium sheet).

Item	Amount
Materials	0.50
Labour	5.19
Subtotal	$5.69

Table 2. Maintenance costs for a 5 year period per herbarium sheet.

Item	Amount	Amount per 5 years
Materials	0.05	0.25
Labour	0.39	1.95
Cabinet space		1.00
Other: building, asbestos removal, heat, light, taxes, rent, etc.	0.51	2.55
Subtotal		5.75
Total		$11.44

Other Services and Costs

In future it is anticipated that the Royal BC Museum may provide a "random identification check" service for incoming voucher specimens whereby 10% of the specimens would be checked by the museum staff for accuracy of identification. This would be "on request" by the depositing agency. Fees for this have not yet been set, but, based on Lee et al., (1982), a cost of between $5.00 and $6.00 per specimen may be appropriate.

The Royal BC Museum may also provide plant dryer services for incoming collections from other agencies; the cost of this is not as yet established.

3.6 References

Anderson, L.E., H.A. Crum and W.R. Buck. 1990. List of the mosses of North America north of Mexico. Pages 448-499 in The Bryologist 93(4), winter 1990. American Bryological and Lichenological Society Inc.

Brayshaw, T.C. 1987. Plant collecting for the amateur. Museum methods manual 1. Royal B.C. Mus., Victoria, BC. 15 pp.

British Columbia Ministry of Forests. 1996. Techniques and procedures for collecting, preserving, and storing botanical specimens. Res. Br., B.C. Min. For., Victoria, BC. Working Paper 18/1996.

Ceska, A., and O. Ceska. 1987. Comments on techniques for collecting aquatic and marsh plants by Robert R. Haynes. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 73(1986):825-827.

Douglas, G., G. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1989-1994. The vascular plants of British Columbia, Parts 1-4. Min. For. Research Program, Victoria, BC.

Douglas, G., G. Straley and D. Meidinger. 1998. Rare native vascular plants of British Columbia. Min. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resources Inventory Br., and Min. For., Res. Br., Victoria, BC. 423 pp.

Douglas, G., G. Straley, D. Meidinger and J. Pojar. 1998. Illustrated flora of British Columbia, Vol. 1, 2. Prov. BC., Victoria, BC.

Forman, L., and D. Bridson, eds.1989. The herbarium handbook. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 214 pp.

Goward, T., B. McCune and D. Meidinger. 1994. The lichens of British Columbia illustrated keys, Parts 1 - Foliose and Squamulose species. Min. For., Research Programs. Victoria, BC.

Pavlick, L. 1994. Draft. Standards for voucher specimens deposited in the herbarium of the Royal British Columbia Museum. Royal BC Mus., Victoria, BC, 8 pp.

Ireland, R.R., G.R. Brossord, G.R. Schofield and D.H. Vitt. 1987. Checklist of the mosses of Canada II - Lindbergia 13:1-62.

Savile, D.B.O. 1962. Collection and care of botanical specimens. Can. Dep. Agric. Publ. 1113. Ottawa. 124 pp.

Scagel, R.F. 1972. Guide to common seaweeds of British Columbia. Handb. No. 27. B.C. Prov. Mus. Victoria, BC. 330 pp.

Schofield, W.B. 1985. Introduction to bryology. MacMillan, New York. 431 pp.

Schofield, W.B. 1992. 2^nd ed. Some common mosses of British Columbia, Royal B.C. Mus. Handb. No. 28. Victoria, BC.

Warrington, P. 1994. Collecting and preserving aquatic plants. Draft rep. prepared for the Min. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resources Inventory Committee. Victoria, BC. 51 pp.