Posts Tagged ‘Amy Weiss’

Morning Eye Candy: Reds and Yellows

Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on September 23rd, 2012 by Matt Newman – Be the first to comment

And with that, summer is nothing but a fond memory. It’s not yet October and already the air is brisk and the leaves changing fashions. Thanks goes out to Amy Weiss of the NYBG‘s Steere Herbarium for capturing the change in action.

“First Tinge of Fall” — Photo by Amy Weiss

Unearthing History in the Herbarium

Posted in Around the Garden, Behind the Scenes, Learning Experiences on March 27th, 2012 by Amy Weiss – Be the first to comment

Amy Weiss works in The New York Botanical Garden’s Herbarium, cataloging and preserving plant specimens from around the world.

Part of my job in the Herbarium of the NYBG is processing plant collections researchers have stored over the years. In general, we only mount plants that have been identified to species. That process can be quick if there is currently a specialist–we send the person a duplicate of a plant collection, and they send us the plant’s name once it has been identified. However, identifying plants to specific species can take much longer if there is no one currently specializing in a certain family or genus.

Herbaria are important because they are the depositories of such historical collections, and with our care they will still be around when a specialist is available. Once identified, we mount the plant specimen for New York, and distribute any duplicates to other herbaria around the world. The collections gathered by NYBG scientists that are still waiting for identification reside in our cold room in the meantime, where they will occasionally remain for decades before the right specialist becomes available.
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