Hitoyoshi's precious plant specimens in water
To save the precious plant specimens in Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, which was hit by a record heavy rain last month, museums across the country are taking steps to prevent deterioration of the specimens.
The record heavy rain last month damaged the Hitoyoshi Castle History Museum in Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, by flooding not only the exhibits but also about 30,000 botanical specimens.
Since plant specimens will rot if they are not treated promptly, about 30 institutions such as museums across the country are currently sorting out the work to prevent deterioration.
Of these, the Tsukuba Research Facility of the National Museum of Science in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, has received about 1,000 samples so far, and we carried out frozen specimens to the outdoors and checked the condition one by one. We are continuing the work of sandwiching it between newspaper and cardboard to dry it.
According to the National Museum of Science, we will return the specimens that have been treated to the Hitoyoshi Castle History Museum, but there are approximately 15,000 untreated specimens left in the field, so we will need to secure a budget and personnel in the future. The challenge is how to proceed, including the work.
Atsushi Ebihara, Research Manager, Plant Research Department, National Museum of Science, said, "It is a difficult situation because we cannot work with a large number of people because of the new corona. I would like to cooperate with you in the work."