It is well-known fact that mercuric chloride is a hazardous chemical, still used for a long time as herbarium preservative. However, trends have changed over the last few decades and some of the alternatives have been used such as Lauryl pentachlorophenate. My question is for the expert herbarium curators to suggest other tested modern and more effective alternatives of mercuric chloride.
I have read something on the subject and it seems that the most suitable, thinking about toxicity and sustainability, is the pyrethrin (an organic insecticide obtained from chrysanthemums).
José Francisco Carrasco Thanks. Today, I was actually reading a good paper on it published four decades ago.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2806221.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aa88e3dbc1da16b2c5b6c7ac67380b707&ab_segments=&origin=
Hello Sayed; Pyrethrins combined with silica gel is commercially available as "Drione Dust" and is claimed to remain effective if undisturbed for up to 6 months. It appears to be less toxic to people than PDB or other commonly used pesticides. It is used in a number of herbaria in the USA. Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers
I think you can use dehydrated floral craft technique to know more read https://herbnews.net/how-to-prepare-herbarium/
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