Day 6 of #museum30 is "labels". #Labels at collections are sometimes even more important than the actual physical specimen because they contain the time and place where a specimen was found. These data are crucial for understanding how a species has evolved and shifted in geography through time. On herbaria labels, a collector may have included other information, such as habitat and associated species. This particular specimen was collected by Elsie McElroy Slater and her friends and includes an endearing note: . "A friendly white flower nodding to everybody that passes. Not rare" . . Elsie and her friends were amateur botanists and Elsie was the first El Pasoan to systematically collect from El Paso. Up until this point, scientists had been coming to El Paso from other regions of the US to take El Paso plants back to their herbaria. Elsie made in depth descriptions of the plants she collected. She eventually published a book, "Thirteen ferns at the Mexican Border at El Paso" with the help of Carl Hertzog, head of the Texas Western Press. . . . #utephistory #botanists #womenscientists #herbaria #pressedplants #specimen #museumlife #naturalhistory #historyofscience #itsallgoodep #instaeptx #elpaso411 #plants #botany #asteraceae #daisies #flowers https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp2FPJ1hv-u/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=a5s9iqhp28fs