Topics

More

Student Life

[Photo Story] Penn State Herbarium

By Joe Whitman
4/20/17 4:00 am

One of Penn State’s best kept secrets lies in the basement of Whitmore Lab. The Pennsylvania Agricultural College’s Herbarium has been around since 1859 when the former president Evan Pugh became the first curator.

Since then the herbarium has grown exponentially and now holds the third largest amount of samples in Pennsylvania. The current curator of the herbarium, Sarah Chamberlain, invited us down to the lab to check out what they’ve been working on and collecting for more than 150 years.

One of their main jobs down in the lab is restoring samples. Here they use small chunks of metal to hold down the vegetation after applying glue to keep the plants attached to the paper.
The herbarium transfers the original samples to acid free paper, protecting them longer.

Here’s a small sample of the seeds that they are currently logging into their database.

They also have samples of algae collected all over the east coast.

Curator, Sarah Chamberlain, looks through one of hundreds of folders that each contain dozens of samples.

Your ad blocker is on.

Please choose an option below.

Sign up for our e-mail newsletter:
OR
Support quality journalism:
Purchase a Subscription!
Already receiving enough emails?

About the Author

Joe Whitman

Joe is a freshman from Punxsutawney (groundhogs day) studying Finance who enjoys taking shooty pics on the side. Joe likes to think of himself as a real life Ted Mosby and has seen every episode of How I Met Your Mother at least 6 times. Follow him on ig or twitter @itsjoebi for a mixture of deep self reflection and spongebob/HIMYM refrences.

Drew Allar To Return To Penn State Football In 2025

Allar’s news came after backup Beau Pribula announced he will enter the transfer portal.

Penn State Student Accused Of Selling Cocaine From Delta Upsilon

Thomas Robinson, listed as a World Campus student in Penn State’s directory, faces 18 felony counts.

Penn State Women’s Volleyball Remains Unbeaten At Home After Creighton Victory

Rec Hall has played a huge role in helping out the Nittany Lions make the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament this season.

113kFollowers
164kFollowers
63.1kFollowers
4,570Subscribers
Sign up for our Newsletter
Other posts by Joe

Meet The Students Who Built An Igloo On Old Main Lawn

Four brave friends spent the snow day constructing an igloo on Old Main Lawn. The structure took almost eight hours to build and 40 to 50 people took shelter in it throughout the day.

113kFollowers
164kFollowers
63.1kFollowers
4,570Subscribers

©  2008 - 2024 Onward State