TAXONOMIC INFORMATION IN GRIN


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The GRIN taxonomists are especially grateful for the ongoing support and technical expertise of the USDA-ARS National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, GRIN Database Management Unit, in particular the late Edward M. Bird, Jimmie D. Mowder, Quinn P. Sinnott, John A. Belt, Gorm P. Emberland, John Chung, Mark A. Bohning, and Allan K. Stoner. Our ongoing dialog with many of the National Plant Germplasm System crop curators and their liason with the Crop Germplasm Committees has been very useful to us. In addition to the author, several individuals, over the years, have directly contributed in various ways to GRIN taxonomic data, including Steven R. Hill, Blanca León, William E. Rice, Edward E. Terrell, Carole A. Ritchie, Tufail Ahmed, Vickie M. Binstock, James I. Cohen, Sasha N. Irvin, Peter C. Garvey, Michael Jeffe, and Matthew Smith. In the former USDA-ARS Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory, the collaboration and cooperation of fellow botanist Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr. (now of the U.S. National Arboretum) has always been appreciated and the adminstrative support of Amy Y. Rossman and technical assistance of David F. Farr and Erin B. McCray have been invaluable.

Development of the web interface to GRIN taxonomy was initiated by the late Edward M. Bird and Vickie M. Binstock, and has progressed through work by the author, with the technical assistance of James S. Plaskowitz, Quinn P. Sinnott, and David F. Farr and the design work of James S. Plaskowitz. Translations of several web pages have been possible due to the efforts of Christian Feuillet (French), Courtney V. Conrad (German), José R. Hernández (Spanish), and Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr. and Blanca León (Portuguese and Spanish). We are grateful for all these contributions.

Finally, it is impossible to acknowledge here all of the numerous individuals whose valuable communications have greatly enriched GRIN taxonomy. Nevertheless, a number of regular correspondents have greatly assisted us in improving the quality and accuracy of GRIN taxonomy data by routinely informing us of errors in or necessary additions to GRIN data, directing our attention to items requiring further documentation, and/or providing feedback on GRIN taxonomy web pages. Among these are Folmer Arnklit (Botanic Garden, University of Copenhagen), Franklin S. Axelrod (University of Puerto Rico), Ken Becker (CAB International), James A. Duke (GreenPharmacy.com), Kanchi N. Gandhi (IPNI, Harvard University Herbaria), John R. Hosking (DPI, New South Wales, Australia), Kirsten A. Llamas (Tropical Flowering Tree Society), James L. Reveal (Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University), Mark W. Skinner (USDA-NRCS), and Thomas L. Wendt (University of Texas at Austin). We are equally grateful to those individuals who have been frequent consultants for complex nomenclatural questions, including Kanchi N. Gandhi (IPNI, Harvard University Herbaria), Werner Greuter (Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem), Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr. (U.S. National Arboretum), John McNeill (Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh), and Dan H. Nicolson (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.).