Methodology for Collecting and Preparing Herbarium Specimen ofAllium

Taxa belonging to the genus Allium are bulbous or rhizomatous with hollow or flat leaves and small delicate flowers, therefore preparing an ideal herbarium specimen is difficult. Quite often some of the characters are not well preserved while processing for herbarium specimen; occasionally they are misunderstood for characters therefore defeat the very purpose of their use as source for taxonomic study. In this paper the authors have made an attempt to provide methodology on collection and preparation of herbarium specimens of different species of Allium. Information provided herein is primarily based on the authors’ field experience and experimental and herbarium study on the genus in the Indian context. Most significant observations to be recorded in field during collecting include characters of root and bulb/rhizome, leaf, scape and flower. The paper also includes modified procedures for ‘difficult to preserve herbarium specimens’ with special notes on plant odour, flower colour and leaf colour. This can be broadly applied to taxa belonging to other bulbous groups with appropriate modification. Illustrations provided in this paper depict the representative types to facilitate better understanding by the readers.