Gretta
Taking only pictures as vouchers requires the student to
already know what part or feature of the plant is necessary to identify the
plant. This is backwards they will not know that information. Everyone
does not need to be a taxonomist, but, part of the purpose of a collection
is for the student to learn how to collect an appropriate voucher so that
somebody else can help them identify a plant later. If they need help in
the future with a project, a specialist is likely to shrug their shoulders
with a 'sorry I can tell from your picture'. Some of the fine details for
identification are not always apparent in photographs; I'm thinking of items
like indumentum types, or immature flower parts in closed flowers. As
instructor how will you tell if their identifications are correct or
incorrect if they don't take a picture of the right part?
Conversely, there is a place for photos a pseudovouchers
when there is a conservation concern of overcollecting or for wide
distribution of knowledge about the morphology of a plant. But I think you
would be starting them backwards if your imply in your teaching that the
photos are adequate as standard vouchers. I suggest that you contact the
Finding Species Project (www.findingspecies.org) for the details on the use
of photography and the relationship to vouchers and plant identification.
Charles A. Davis
Ecologist
1510 Bellona Avenue
Lutherville, MD 21093-5525
H/W: 410-252-4154
[email protected]
