Pressed Plants by Linda P J Lipsen

Pressed Plants

by Linda P J Lipsen

A compact and contemporary guide to collecting, drying and storing plant specimens—suitable for both professional researchers and ardent amateurs.

The long-awaited update to Dr. Christoper Brayshaw’s beloved Plant Collecting for the Amateur, Linda P.J. Lipsen's Pressed Plants goes to the heart of professional and amateur plant collecting today.

Rich in illustrations, infographics, and plant photography, this beautiful book balances the ongoing history of plant collection with practical advice, and it includes the latest updates to best practices, such as how to preserve plant material for DNA extraction and how to navigate increasingly complex cultural and conservation considerations.

Pressed Plants responds to the recent revival of enthusiasm for nature, biodiversity, and conservation with an increased emphasis on how to document the biodiversity around us. It will help any reader feel that they can understand how to properly document plant biodiversity so it’s understood, valued, and protected.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

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Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Pressed Plants is a comprehensive beginner friendly guide with tutorials for getting started preserving and cataloguing a person herbarium/plant collection by Linda P.J. Lipsen. Released 10th Feb 2023 by the Royal British Columbia Museum, it's 96 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
The cataloguing and organization of plant material into a cohesive (and correctly identified) herbarium is admittedly exotic, academic, and (some would say) tweedy hobby. It's also deeply steeped in adventure, history, and exploration. Early explorers were hardy and fearless and raced to find and bring back heretofore unknown species. As a result, botanical material was crated and shipped wholesale (generally unidentified) back to be bought and curated into private and public collections worldwide. This book is written for hobbyist collectors and for building readers' private collections, but there are flashes of the same adventure and wanderlust in the author's instruction included here.

The book is arranged logically, with chapters divided thematically: building a field kit and collecting tools (including a good overview on sourcing and evaluating what to get and where), collecting plant material, pressing & drying, mounting, preserving & organizing, and identifying specimens. The text is enhanced throughout with tips set apart by identifying icons indicating reusable/recycling ideas, tips and tricks, and checklists for fieldwork. The text is enhanced throughout by simple line drawings and graphics rendered by Derek Tan. Although quite simple, they enhance and inform the text. The author has also included a solid bibliography to get collectors started with ID and classification, as well as a cross referenced index (not provided in the ARC for review).

Four stars. It's an admittedly niche book, but I heartily recommend it to readers who enjoy academic collections and who really enjoy seeing collections of *stuff* being arranged and catalogued and ordered. Beautifully done and well illustrated. This would also be an excellent choice for public or school library, activity groups, maker's groups, smallholders and similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

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Reading updates

  • 20 February, 2023: Started reading
  • 20 February, 2023: Finished reading
  • 20 February, 2023: Reviewed