A herbarium is a collection of dried, pressed plants that are mounted on archival paper and labeled. The CERA herbarium contains over 200 specimens, representing nearly half of the vascular plant species present at CERA. The specimens are organized in folders by genus and family. Some of the first collections at CERA were made by Mary Ann Reihman in the summer of 1969, less than a year after CERA was purchased.

The CERA herbarium is a very miniature version of the Grinnell College Herbarium, located in the basement of the Noyce Science Center. The CERA herbarium serves primarily as a resource for field identification and as a collection of voucher specimens that document plant distributions and associations. Herbarium vouchers, particularly those collected in 1969 by Mary Ann Reihman, have proven invaluable for determining our restoration goals for areas south of Willow Creek and Perry Pond.

Herbarium Collection List
A list of the specimens in the collection is available from the CERA Manager upon request. The list is updated periodically as we add more specimens to the collection.

Volunteer Opportunities
Collecting, mounting, and identifying specimens; typing labels.

Student Research
Tix, Dan. Plant collections from CERA and other local natural area.

Zang, D. 1987. Prairie plants collected at CERA in 1987.

Reihman, Mary Ann. 1969. A taxonomic study of the Conard Environmental Research Area in summer 1969. Benjamin Graham.