An Introduction to the Botanical Type Specimen Register

12 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY
Procedures and Standards
SOURCE OF DATA
The principal source of data at this stage is the
permanent card file associated with the type col-
lection of the U.S. National Herbarium (US). The
card records are converted into machine-readable
form genus by genus in alphabetical order. During
the pilot phase cards were pulled from the file by
family (e.g., Scrophulariaceae), but this approach
is impractical for the file as a whole, which is ar-
ranged alphabetically by genus. While that ap-
proach was being taken, the cards were being
compared with the specimens in the type collec-
tion, which are arranged systematically (modified
Englerian sequence), prior to input. Now that an
alphabetical rather than systematic approach to the
file is being taken the specimen-comparison step
is being postponed until the whole file is in the
computer and can be sorted systematically by
family.
Curators of the U.S. National Herbarium have
followed the practice of segregating type specimens
from the general collection since the early part of
the present century. The practice was first estab-
lished about 1918 by then-curator Paul C. Standley.
At the same time an associated card file was started
to supplement the specimen data with information
from the literature. The file includes a card for
every taxon (species, subspecies, variety, form) rep-
resented in the type collection, and generally the
responsible curator has had the original publica-
tion in hand while preparing the card and the
standard folder for filing the type specimen (s).
Each card includes the original taxonomic name
(basionym in cases of later transfer), author, origi-
nal reference, basic collecting data, and designation
of kind of type. To re-create this file today from
the specimens and the literature tvould require at
least 10 and more likely 20-30 professional man-
years, and there is no reason to suppose that the
file could be re-created with any higher professional
standards or greater degree of accuracy on the av-
erage than the first time. In short, it is scientifically
sound as well as eminently practical to create the
preliminary edition of the Type Register from the
Smithsonian file as it stands.
Of the 65,000 specimens in the US type collec-
tion, about 55,000 are types of phanerogamic species
and infraspecific taxa, and the other approximately
10,000 are types of cryptogamic taxa-ferns, mosses,
and lichens.
Other institutions can contribute to the Type
Register in any of a number of ways, as explained
in the next section. Basically, there are two ways:
(1) annotation of a printou, listing records already
registered in the machine file, and (2) submission
of completed data forms or some equivalent pro-
cedure for new records not presently registered in
the machine file. These are complementary pro-
cedures which must both be used. Institutions with
ready-made card files like the Smithsonian’s are in
the best position to contribute in a significant way
quickly, and their contributions will spare the
smaller herbaria from repeating costly bibliographic
research that already has been done somewhere
else. The cumulative Register provides a basis for
checking rapidly for isotypes and other “duplicate”
type material, leaving bibliographic research to be
performed only for those cases where new taxa are
to be added to the Register. In other words, to
conserve effort maximum advantage should be
taken of the existing file in the process of adding
new data, especially bibliographic data, and of
course the larger the machine file becomes the
greater can be the economy of scholarship on the
part of newly collaborating herbaria.
AZonographs and the personal manuscripts or
files of monographers are obvious sources of au-
thoritative data for the Register and have been
used in a few instances, although there are some
distinct disadvantages in using the monograph as
the starting point (see p. 7). Future monographers
should register data routinely for type specimens of
new taxa prior to, or simultaneously with, publica-
tion. Likewise, it is hoped that graduate students
in plant taxonomy will be advised to submit data
on type specimens examined by them in the course
of their research.
For every specimen registered in the file, a code
is appended at the end of the record which indi-
cates the source of the data according to a broad
classification of source categories, summarized later
under “Data Source Code.”
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Any herbarium interested in contributing to the
Register is advised to consult with the staff at the