Q. What do you mean by Borrowed Materials?
For the study of as much relevant material as possible the material is obtained on loan. Borrowed specimens benefit the' lending institutions because we have responsibility of annotating the specimens and revising identification. The loan specimens arriving from lending institutions are carefully checked for transit damage and the list is verified. The specimens are studied only on the institutional premises and housed in standard metal herbarium cases when not in use. For removing certain parts like pollen etc, prior permission is sought. The specimens are returned after proper annotation. The annotation label has the complete scientific name of the plant (genus, specific epithet and author), fun name of the person making the annotation and the year of annotation. The original boxes and packing material is saved and used for return shipment giving details of packing.
The exchange of specimens among collectors is made on a one for one basis. It is an important means of augmenting a collection at minimal cost. The specimens for exchange are unmounted and loose in the pressing paper and properly labelled. We should always exchange good quality material, because poor quality materials are not normally acceptable by most curators as exchange materials.