BONSARIUM

For those of you who love to collect leaf, flower, and seed specimens, you've come to the right place. We'll show you how to start a herbarium for your bonsais so you can record their development.

You may be on our website and wondering, what is a Bonsarium? Yes, it’s a new concept borrowed from an old one called “Herbarium.” The notion has been around since the 16th century when Luca Ghini came up with the idea. All we’ve done here at Bonsai Alchemists is incorporate it with the bonsai culture.

On this page, you’ll find more information on how it works, teaching you about bonsarium and herbarium simultaneously. We’ll also link all posts related to how you can keep one at home, ensuring we have all our guides in one place. No other bonsai website will teach you this technique (unless they stole it from us), so please enjoy the journey!

Introducing the Bonsarium Concept

The herbarium concept started in the 16th century when Luca Ghini developed the idea as a professor in botany and medicine. You could see him as a plant alchemist if you wish. He pasted plant specimens on pages and created archives of different species.

We’ve been fond of this idea ever since we’ve been growing bonsais, crafting bonsariums as records of leaves, seeds, flowers, and roots. It helped us keep track of what they look like to help us identify them in the wild. Of course, it’s also an entertaining activity, which is why we’re sharing the concept with you.

It’s all about your personal journey. However, it’s hard to plan if you don’t have a vision in mind. Imagine you grew an apple bonsai upright and then decided after a few years that you want to cascade it? Bonsai inspiration helps you set a plan for what you envision.

The Function of a Bonsarium

To ascertain a bonsarium’s purpose, we’ve applied the functions of a herbarium in a different context. While the latter has a universal approach, your bonsarium only applies to the bonsai trees you are growing in your nursery.
As such, the functions of your bonsarium are as follows:

Personal conservatory: A collection of bonsai specimens taken over time during the growth of your miniature trees, developing a timeline of study material for future comparisons.
Botanical data: Your bonsarium will have valuable data that others might find useful, and you can compare growths between regions and countries for phytogeographical studies.
Teaching and identification: If you’re teaching a group about bonsais, you can use the bonsarium as a valuable visual resource, specifically with how to identify them.
Continued research: Many lands have bonsai associations and groups that can benefit from having a communal bonsarium, aiding future members with keeping track of the bonsai development.
Managing species variations: Bonsai enthusiasts enjoy crafting new tree variants, and it may spark one that doesn’t exist yet. Keeping a bonsarium helps manage the details for evidence so that they can monitor the results.

Bonsarium Management

In the old days, the only way to keep track of plant specimens was to glue them on pages and store them in compressed volumes. There was a defined technique that incorporated drying, pressing, mounting, documentation, and identification, to name a few. Many botanists still use this method for herbarium management to this day.

Of course, we live in a new age of technology. While you can follow the same techniques, there’s nothing wrong with keeping a digital bonsarium on your phone, computer, tablet, or any other device. As a matter of fact, there are new bonsai apps that can help with this process. The only downfall is that you can’t thoroughly study the specimens with your senses, so the old method remains the best.

START YOUR COLLECTION WITH BONSAI ALCHEMISTS!

Thank you for paying a visit to our bonsarium page! We hope you enjoy the content we created for you and excited you to create your own one. Feel free to share any images or news with us about whether you’ve succeeded.

FAQ ABOUT BONSARIUMS

Before you head out, you may want to check these FAQ about herbariums and bonsariums. We decided to add both so that you can receive as much detail as possible.

What is a plant herbarium?

A herbarium is a collection of plant specimens placed on paper for further study or recording. It has a specific classification system with details that include the collector’s name, plant details, where and when it was collected, and so much more.

What is a bonsarium?

A bonsarium is the same as a herbarium, but it only applies to the bonsai enthusiast’s collection of trees. It involves similar techniques as a herbarium. However, it can include unique details, such as grafting methods, pruning times, styling, and offsets.

What are the types of herbarium?

There are three main herbarium types. The first is National, where it collects data for the country. A local herbarium contains specimens for a province or region. Finally, a special herbarium is used on a smaller scale and used for historical storage, teaching, research, or personal use. Bonsariums can fall into the same three categories.

What are herbarium management techniques?

These techniques indicate the strict regulations for the collection and storage of plant specimens. Specific labels are used to identify various criteria for record purposes and must be used at all times.

Who developed the concept of the bonsarium?

We’re proud to announce that Bonsai Alchemist is the first to label the act of conserving bonsai data as a bonsarium based on herbarium techniques. We’re sure many associations worldwide were keeping bonsai specimens in some form or another, but we can’t find any evidence of an official bonsarium method like the one we developed.

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BONSARIUM

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