Botanical specimen

A botanical specimen, also called a plant specimen, is a biological specimen of a plant (or part of a plant) used for scientific purposes. Preserved collections of algae, fungi, slime molds, and other organisms traditionally studied by botanists are also considered to be botanical specimens. Plant specimens are usually preserved by drying and pressing using a basic technique that is more than 500 years old. Other examples of preserved specimens include loose seeds, wood sections, and microscope slides. A facility devoted to the curation of a collection of botanical specimens is known as a herbarium.

A person who gathers botanical specimens is called a botanical collector (or plant collector). Plant collecting is an essential botanical activity with a very long history. Some plant science journals require botanical specimens as a condition for publication of articles.