A herbarium, or Hortus Siccus, is a collection of plants that have been dried and preserved so as to illustrate as far as possible their different characters. Since the same plant, owing to peculiarities of climate, soil and situation, degree of exposure to light and other influences may vary greatly according to the locality in which it occurs, it is only by gathering together, for comparison and study, a large series of examples of each species that the flora of different regions can be satisfactorily represented. Even in the best-equipped botanical garden it is almost impossible to have more than a very small percentage of the representatives of the flora of any given region or large group of plants. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Herbarium