Earth Week: Botanical Tours

By Broadside Staff Writer Tina Miller

Each day, students walk to and from cars to classes, without even knowing that George Mason University’s Fairfax campus is its own botanical garden.

To educate students in the diverse plant life of their campus, environmental science and policy assistant professor Andrea Weeks took students on an hour long botanical garden tour, which began at the George Mason University Herbarium in the basement of Krug Hall.

“A herbarium is a reference collection, like a library,” Weeks said.

According to Weeks, this specific library is made up of over 60,000 specimens, most of which are from Virginia. Each specimen is preserved by gluing the samples onto sheets of paper and placing them in folders inside file cabinets.

“Most large universities have a herbarium,” Weeks said. “Ours ties for the fourth and fifth largest in the country.”
Following a quick tour of the herbarium, Weeks took the tour group outside to see live botanical specimens on Mason’s Fairfax campus.

At that time, Weeks discussed with the group that in the past, Mason’s campus used to be farm land, so what grows on it now is all secondary.

Afterwards, Weeks took the group to the area near the student apartments. There, the students were able to examine plants such as spring beauties, thimble flowers, wood rush, Japanese honey suckle, poison ivy, garlic mustard and skunk cabbage.

With almost every plant, Weeks walked through the mud and broke off a piece for students to examine its texture as well as to experience the different possible scents and odors.

After the tour went to the student apartments, it headed toward the Center for the Arts. With a countless number of other botanical specimens near the new Confucius statue and along the path near the pond, botanical samples included iron wood trees, cherry trees and a variety of maple trees and birches.

The tour also covered a small section of Patriot Circle past the P.E. Building, and made its way back to the herbarium. Plants on this part of the tour included bay magnolia, black thumb trees, juniper, American hazelnut, tulip poplars, sweet gum and slippery elm.

The tour took place last Monday and Tuesday as part of Earth Week at Mason. One of the students on the tour, Kristen Baird, assisted Weeks.

Baird is a graduate student in environmental science and policy, and it is because of students like her that others use the herbarium for research and enjoyment.

Besides graduate students, others that have access to the herbarium includestudent volunteers who work there and students in Weeks’ environmental classes.

Weeks said that those who use the herbarium were eager for the state of Virginia to come out with their new flora analysis guide.

“A flora is the scientific reference for the plants in that area,” Weeks said. “A good flora will have good keys for identifying. Also it will have distribution maps and illustrations.”

According to Weeks, “There hasn’t been a Virginia flora since the 1600s, and the one that is about to come out- they have been working on it for the last 10 years.”

The Mason herbarium is not limited to just Virginia native plants as there are specimens from all over the country and the world.

Some of the specimens we have come exotic regions including Africa and the Caribbean.

Weeks said, “Virginia is a great place for botany.”

Currently, the Mason herbarium is available to any student who might be interested in using it for individual research or possible to learn more about plant life as a hobby.
At the end of tour, it appeared as though Mason students and volunteers enjoyed the experience because they were learning more about the environment directly where they live and go to school.

The herbarium is generally kept locked. However, students may be able to make a request for information on how to visit, contact Andrea Weeks at aweeks3@gmu.edu.