Herborization hot chamber set upon a steel stand: a low-cost alternative for laboratories in developing

Abstract

This work presents a compact herborization hot chamber, easily set up in a stand with six shelves. The heating system consists of four 100W incandescent lamps which operate at optimum temperature if you activate two lamps to a high temperature, when four lamps are on, if necessary. The hot chamber was built and tested with fine preservation of herborized plant colors if warmed by two lamps (42oC). Under maximum temperature (55.5oC), there was degradation of colors of the material although the final result was mechanically satisfactory herbarium specimens. The longest period of time required to recover the final temperature for a change of press was 17 minutes. With such results, one concludes that the hot chamber described is efficient, compact, and a fine solution for laboratories and herbariums with restricted space or small herborization demand.