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Title: THE ROLE OF THE GRIN DATABASE IN PROMOTING STABILIZATION OF ECONOMIC PLANT NAMES

Author
item Wiersema, John

Submitted to: Abstract of International Horticultural Congress
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/22/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The taxonomic portion of the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) provides the scientific nomenclature for ca. 450,000 accessions of the National Plant Germplasm System. Most plants of agronomic or horticultural importance are represented among these accessions. Recently, we have extended the taxonomic coverage to many other plants of economic importance throughout the world, such as poisonous plants, ornamentals, weeds, medicinal plants, or plants of conservation concern, not represented among germplasm accessions. Thus GRIN Taxonomy now provides accurate scientific names for nearly 35,000 species of vascular plants. Since 1994 these data have been freely available to internet users, and thousands of queries of these data are answered daily. Direct consultation for complex nomenclatural issues is also often provided. Many agricultural organizations rely on GRIN Taxonomy as a dependable source of accurate scientific names. Included among these are international seed-testing organizations such as AOSA and ISTA, which have used GRIN Taxonomy to promote stabilization of nomenclature in the seed industry. A thorough renovation of the GRIN Taxonomy web interface was completed for 2002, providing further improvements to user access and data presentation.