As you approach the entrances to the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, don't be surprised to find a forest of plastic signs awaiting you. In any research garden, individuals specimens are required to have tags--usually metal strips--listing plant identifications and names. But often these museum labels are hidden within the plant canopy, not in full view, and thus are difficult for visitors to find. Our freshly made plastic signs are user-friendly, providing visitors with the scientific binomial and common name, plant family, and place of origin for each specimen in our collection. The new signs enable any visitor to learn something while walking through the garden, and they are also invaluable for our docents, who can't be expected to remember every plant name!
The individual responsible for plant signage at MEMBG is Dr. Barry A. Prigge, a senior research scientist in the Herbarium. Producing these signs is no trivial task. It requires advanced taxonomic training, because every name must be researched carefully and each plant species properly identified before a label can be engraved on our computer-driven equipment. At a rate of twenty new signs per week, it should take us until the year 2000 to properly label the majority of the collection.