As a beginning range manager, you will need to make a plant collection. For each plant you should list the name, location, associated plants and ecological value. Your collection should represent the various plant species that are prevalent in the area of range concerned. The collection should extend over different seasons of a year, since plants grow, change and have flowers at different times. Plants should be collected when the flowers are the showiest or when grass is headed out. Careful pressing and drying help retain plant shape and preserve natural colors.

Steps in plant collection
Digging, pressing and mounting are step in the collecting of range plants. A brief discussion of each step, and the materials needed, follows.

Digging plants. Be sure to get two plants of each kind. When collecting your plants, you will need a plant press (a large magazine with rough, absorbent paper may be used as a substitute). As you collect your plants, place them between the blotters of the press or the pages of the magazine. Or, you may want to collect plants in a plastic freezer bag and take them home to press and dry them. A dandelion digger, a small pick or a shovel is useful for digging the plants; a sharp knife to cut and trim plants is also handy. In digging plants, be sure to get a fair sample of the root, especially of grasses, grass-like plants, and forbs, as some plants are identified by the roots. Collect twigs of shrubs and trees.

A complete specimen should show the roots, stems, leaves, and flower heads. Do not include too much plant material, as it will not dry well, and many specimens are apt to mold. Soil and dead plant material should be removed when the specimen is collected. If necessary, the plant should be folded neatly in an ‘N’ or inverted ‘V’ so it will fit inside the specimen sheets for pressing. Place plants in the press or magazine before they begin to wilt. When collecting plants for a range herbarium, it is a good idea to collect the same plant at different seasons of the year to show development changes in the plant. It is often necessary to be able to identify range plants in their vegetative non-flowering state.

Record the following data about each specimen at the time of collection:

• 
  Plant name and collector’s number
• 
  Where collected
• 
  Plants growing around it
• 
  Slope
• 
  Date of collection
• 
  Name of collector

Pressing Plants. Two pieces of plywood 12 x 18 inches (with 1-inch holes bored for ventilation), a dozen or so pieces of corrugated ventilating board and building felt of the same size, some old newspapers, and two heavy rubber bands or straps with buckles serve as a plant press. Cut the ventilating board so the corrugations run the short (12-inch) way. The newspapers serve as specimen sheets (one plant to a folded sheet). The building felt should be changed or dried every day to preserve the natural color of the plant.

Names of the plants can be put on the margin of each specimen sheet. Dryers and specimens sheets should be placed in the press in the following order: ventilation board, building felt, folded newspaper (containing specimen), ventilator and so forth. Until the plants are dry, keep them in the specimen sheets to retain their normal shape. When the specimens are dry, they may be retained in the specimen sheet until mounted on herbarium sheets.

Mounting plants. Each specimen can be mounted on standard herbarium cards, 11 ½ x 16 ¼ inches or 8 ½ x 11 inches. Glue the plants to the sheets or cards with transparent, plastic glue. From 15 to 20 ‘dots’ of this glue under roots, stems and leaves will hold the plants in place. Weight the plants down while gluing them to the cards.

The mounting label or data sheet should be about 3 x 5 inches and glued to the lower right-hand corner of the sheet. It should contain the following information:

• 
  Common name and scientific name
• 
  Pertinent data – abundance, habitat, location, associated plants
• 
  Forage value
• 
  Collector’s name
• 
  Date of collection

Mounted specimens may be covered with cellophane for display purposes, but cellophane covers are not necessary. You may display your herbarium collection in a case or as a book of mounted specimens. Book backs made of plywood, masonite or leather can make your collection attractive and interesting to your friends. Moth crystals should be kept with stored specimens to keep insects from eating the plants.