A typical herbarium specimen is attached to or mounted on a sheet of stiff card to display and present the stem, leaves, flowers, fruit, etc. for study. The specimen label is also attached to the mounting sheet. Barcodes, institutional accession numbers and database stamps may also be on the sheet.
The specimen, label, packets, determination slips and annotations are all securely attached to the mounting sheet with glue, thread, tape or wire to ensure that all the components never become separated from each other.
The mounting card of the herbarium sheet, the glue, the label paper, the thread, the packets and any other specimen items, are all made from archivally stable acid free materials to ensure that the materials and specimen do not deteriorate over time.