Subscribe
Back to Search
Contact(s)
A library of dried plant specimens — which were collected throughout Simcoe County up to 60 years ago — has been relocated to Lakehead University’s Orillia campus.
The herbarium, a collection of dried plants preserved between sheets of white paper, was donated to Lakehead by the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre.
“Lakehead’s trying to be the university for Simcoe County and this is the repository for Simcoe County species. It … makes sense for us to have it,” Chris Tomasini, campus librarian, said Monday. “We have a growing environmental sustainability program, so it would match well with our environmental initiatives.”
The herbarium is kept inside a six-foot-tall green filing cabinet, which has been placed inside the photocopying and printing room beside the campus library.
“There is a tremendous wealth of knowledge here,” said Orillia naturalist Bob Bowles.
Bowles spearheaded the collection’s relocation. He hopes Lakehead students study the herbarium and add their own specimens.
By examining the plants up close, students can see how they have evolved compared to a specimen from today.
Navigating the herbarium might be confusing for newcomers. The collection is organized in taxonomical order, meaning it begins with the oldest plant and follows evolution.
“The oldest plants are the ferns, the horsetails … anything that has spores on it,” Bowles said.
The order ends with the highly evolved composite plants.
“As plants started to grow, they got more complex,” he said.
Many colleges have herbariums, Bowles said.
Erindale College, a Mississauga satellite campus of the University of Toronto, has a large collection of a grassy plant species called Carex. Guelph University has a herbarium of agricultural plants and Western University has many preserved mosses, Bowles said.
Years ago, while working at the Wye Marsh, Bowles saved the herbarium from being put in the trash.
“The executive director at that time wanted to throw the whole thing out and I argued …” he said. “I didn’t want to lose these records.”
Bowles thanked Sara Street, executive director of the Wye Marsh, and Kim Fedderson, Lakehead Orillia dean and vice-provost, for their help in bringing the herbarium to the Orillia campus.
Photo:Orillia naturalist Bob Bowles holds a dried-plant specimen while standing in front of a Simcoe County herbarium that was relocated to Lakehead University's Orillia campus Monday. The sample Bowles is holding is not one from the herbarium. Those fragile specimens must be viewed on a flat surface
