[NHCOLL-L:1304] Re: Juicy Fruit

[Ann Pinzl]

    Removal and separate treatment whether in fluid or microwaving as John Edmondson  suggested are probably the most direct and efficient means to deal with the situation yet I have a comment or two, especially since I have encountered the situation with some frequency.
    As for smallish juicy fruit, e.g.currants and gooseberries, I will prick the fruit before traditional drying (and I use a low heat with the presses) - it usually does the job ... with a little patience.  A lot more patience is required for those succulents, such as cacti  hinted at by John Nelson,  which are designed to retain water in the face of heat and injury  trauma in nature, but which face similar abuse when encountering a botanist intent on making it a specimen.  With cacti and such, I split the material  as best I can and remove as much tissue as possible.  I often use some wax paper over the cut portions, even if it might inhibit drying somewhat,  when it would seem that the newly exposed surfaces will stick to the newspaper.  Once the plants are pressed and over low heat, I don't even really look at them for 3 months or so, as it usually takes 6 or more months for them to finish drying. I once tried  drying the split cactus pads in a micro-wave and I wound up with crispy cactus chips (or crisps, for the British folk tuning in).  A colleague who specializes in cacti, carries an "ice chest" of alcohol into the field, splits and cleans the plant parts, puts them in a press (of aluminum mesh)  and then inserts the "press" into the alcohol.  I've tried it and the plants do dry quickly, but mine did turn out a bit crispy also and my Pediocactus (a globular one composed of spine-bearing bumps or mammae) essentially disintegrated ... perhaps I had "shaved off"  too much supporting tissue?  I am also concerned about what chemical information might be leached out in the alcohol bath.   I suppose some people still salt their specimens.

    Maybe there's some help there.

Ann Pinzl

apinzl at worldnet.att.net
----- Original Message ----- 
From: John Edmondson <john.edmondson at dial.pipex.com>
To: <nelson at sc.edu>; <NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 10:05 AM
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:1287] Re: Juicy Fruit


> on 23/10/01 3:55 am, John Nelson at nelson at biol.sc.edu wrote:
> 
> > MON 22 Oct 1047h
> > 
> > Friends:
> > 
> > We just processed a dried, pressed, unmounted plant specimen of Rhamnus
> > caroliniana for our herbarium collection. It was noticed that the
> > newspaper surrounding the specimen was still stuck to the preciously
> > fleshy ftruits (now squashed). These fruits were quite gummy, and
> > definitely not absolutely dried out. The thing about it was that this
> > specimen was collected in 1987!
> > 
> > Just wondering if anyone has had experience with supposedly dried out
> > plant material that retains water in the tissues-- one would think
> > cacti, improperly prepared would be considered here, but there have to
> > be others. Fruits retaining water after several years...an invitation to
> > mold, insects, ? Or maybe this gumminess is an effect of water
> > absorption from the atmosphere?
> > 
> > thanks JOHN
> 
> Advisable to detach the fruits and store separately. Ideally, freeze drying
> works best, as the freezing disrupts the cell structure before the drying
> takes over.
> 
> JOHN EDMONDSON
> 
> 
Ann Pinzl
4020 Hobart Road
Carson City, Nevada 89703
USA
phone: 775 883 0463
fax: 509 278 8810
apinzl at worldnet.att.net
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