WORKSHOP

Palm Collecting: From Field to Herbarium

Herbarium specimens are essential for documenting palm diversity—but palms can be challenging to collect well. This hands-on workshop will equip you with field-ready skills to make complete, well-documented palm herbarium specimens, from collecting and pressing to botanical description, mounting and storage.

Pre-conference event, before conference mixer
12 July 2026 | 8am – 3pm
Conducted by: Prof William Baker and Dr Fred Stauffer

Herbarium specimens are essentials for documenting taxonomic diversity of the palm family and critical for our understanding of its classification, ecology, evolution, distribution and conservation. However, palms present numerous challenges to conventional field collecting methods and, as a result, many collectors avoid them or make inadequate collections. Under-representation of palms in herbaria is a significant obstacle to modern palm research. This workshop aims to address this problem and equip participants with the necessary skills to make complete and well-documented palm herbarium specimens.

This workshop combines theoretical knowledge on palm collecting, pressing and botanical description with practical activities outdoors. Benefiting from the rich living palm collection of the Singapore Botanical Garden, techniques for recording and collecting all key groups of palms will be covered, with participants being introduced to representatives of all five subfamilies in the living state.

The main goal of the workshop is to develop field-oriented skills leading to the production of herbarium specimens of the highest standard. Recommendations on how to accurately mount palm specimens and store them in herbaria will also be provided.

No previous knowledge is required for participants. This workshop is targeted at passionate tropical botanists at any stage of their career who will apply these skills in the field. General plant collectors keen to learn palm collecting specificities are particularly welcome.