Collaborators should first contact the Pacific Forestry Centre's Forest Pathology Herbarium DAVFP (Department of Agriculture, Victoria, Forest Pathology) curator prior to sending specimens. After proper preparation and competent identification, fungi voucher specimens should be sent to the DAVFP. The contact for the DAVFP is Dr. Brenda Callan, a research scientist - mycologist.
Pacific Forestry Centre Contacts: |
Curator: Dr. Brenda E. Callan |
Technician: Ms. Analie Fernando | |
Phone: (250) 363-0684 |
Proper preparation, preservation, and inclusion of essential field data is necessary before the specimen will be accepted by DAVFP. Specimens must fulfill the minimum requirements given below.
1) Pressing(if foliar sample) and sizing specimens for standard box or packet sizes
Unlike vascular plant herbaria, specimens and specimen packets in DAVFP are not mounted on sheets, but are placed in boxes or folded paper packets which are specially sized to fit in the cabinet drawers. Therefore, specimens should be prepared in such a way that they fit into the dimensions specified below for boxes and paper packets. Very large, valuable specimens occasionally take up all or most of an entire drawer (8x volume of the largest box), but collections this size are rarely accepted, and must be of extraordinary merit to be retained.
Fleshy or woody specimens, such as agarics, polypores and fungi fruiting on wood are stored in boxes which are sized to fit in the cabinet drawers (see 4.5 Materials and Costs for box measurements).
Foliar samples should first be pressed between newspaper or blotting paper (plant presses are used for parasites on leaves and other vegetation), and then cut so that they may easily fit into paper packets, which are sized 18.5 x 11.5 cm. For large specimens cut to fit standard box sizes.
2) Heat-killing specimens
Small specimens should be placed in a dryer for several days at temperatures at or above 500C, in open bags or in plant presses. If the specimen is very large and woody, it should remain in the dryer for several weeks. DAVFP has dryers which are available for treatment of specimens prior to accession.
3) Inclusion of proper collection data
Complete a Collaborator Collection Slip and submit it with the specimen (see section 2.4 Data Needs).
Note: The herbarium accepts identification requests on a limited basis. If collections are from the Victoria area, please contact the herbarium directly prior to sending samples. Outside the Victoria area, contact: 1) Regional Pathologist, BC Ministry of Forests, for disease collection slips, and a referral, or 2) Herbarium, Pacific Forestry Centre.
The herbarium does not have unlimited resources to house collections. Thus, it is essential that the herbarium be contacted at the onset of a project to discuss requirements and any associated costs there might be to the project.
At present there are no set costs for storage of specimens at the DAVFP. It is necessary to check what costs if any, there will be to the project for identification or housing of the specimens. This should be done before field work is started.
Specimens and specimen packets are placed in boxes or folded paper packets which are specially sized to fit in the cabinet drawers. Measurements are in centimeters; width x length x height.
Table 3. Materials used for storing fungi specimens.
Item |
Size (cm) |
Details |
Small Box |
7 x 9 x 6 |
32 fill one drawer |
Mid-sized Box |
7 x 18 x 6 |
16 fill one drawer |
Large Box |
15 x 18.5 x 6 |
8 fill one drawer |
Paper Packets |
11.5 x 18.5 |
Callan, B.E. 1998. Diseases of Populus in British Columbia: A diagnostic manual. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, BC 157 pp.
Forman, L., and D. Bridson, eds. The herbarium handbook. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 214 pp.
Resources Inventory Committee. 1999. Inventory Methods for Macrofungi: Standards for Components of BC's Biodiversity, No. 41. Version 2.0. Min. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resources Inventory Br., Victoria, BC.
Savile, D.B.O. 1962. Collection and care of botanical specimens. Can. Dep. Agric. Publ. 1113. 124 pp.
Ziller, W.G. 1963. A herbarium for Forest Pathology. Information Report, Can. Dep. Forestry, Forest Entomology and Pathology Br., March, 1963. 15 pp.