A lot of the subcontractors will undercut you, cheat you out of your money if they can. |
Certain plant parts are associated with crime, drugs or poison. We encourage the public to go to the [Delaware] Cooperative Extension first. The stuff they can't identify, they send to us. We do the hard things. |
If it's an endangered species, they store it here. |
The stuff comes in as a craft item so it's never inspected. We're working on a software key that the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service [a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture] can identify when it comes through. |
This place is pretty close to a swamp, especially when the mosquitoes and flies get going. I came to town to try to help get things back to normal and make a few bucks. But this has been hard. |
We have a very unique fruit cone and seed collection that we're trying to increase. We do consulting work for commercial companies, such as spice companies, when they can't identify in-house. Occasionally there are some odd seeds. |
We reinvented ourselves back in 1994, when we got money for a new herbarium that was open to the public. Most herbariums are impossible to get into. We have access for gardeners and everyone else. Other ones, you need credentials. |