How to request genus covers

Requesting Genus Covers

 

1.  Decide if a new folder should be requested.

• The most common reason to request new genus folders is that existing folders are full. Overstuffed folders do not properly cover the specimens and will damage the specimens when the folders are handled.  Therefore, do not fill folders beyond a thickness of 1 1/2 inches!  
• Another reason to request new genus folders is that a genus is new to the herbarium. If you do not find a genus cover in the herbarium before requesting folders for a new genus please confirm in IPNI, TROPICOS, and EMu

1) that you are looking for it in the right family in the herbarium and

2) that it is not a synonym of another genus under which specimens are already filed.

Note: The families we use at NY do not follow APGIII (Tropicos lists APG families). Double check the filing family we use at NY in EMu.

• In addition, if you need a folder for specimens annotated with a new combination please make sure all specimens are moved to the new name and that proper cross reference sheets are in place. If not, request those as well.
• If you notice a temporary genus cover with an old date (of more than 6 months) please re-request it and add the current month and year to the temporary cover.

 

2.  Whenever a new genus cover is needed, prepare a temporary cover to contain the specimens until the new cover has been made.  The temporary covers have two purposes: 

1) they protect the specimens during the time—often some months—it takes to prepare and file the new covers, and

2) they tell the person who will be filing the covers where to file them.

 

3.  When deciding what should be written on a genus cover, make certain to account for the whole of the alphabet with regard to epithets (see #4).  

 

With a pen or marker, in the lower left hand corner write the family number and name, the genus name, an indication of the part of the genus contained in the cover. In the lower right hand corner write the geographical region.  Put your initials and the month and year on each temporary cover made.

 

Make a new, permanent species cover and insert specimens. With pencil, in lower left hand corner write first initial of genus name and full species name.

 

4.  Put the information that you put on the covers also on a “genus cover request list.”  Please take care to make your list completely legible!  The person who types the list is not familiar with botanical names and will make errors if your handwriting is not legible.  This wastes time and material.  If you type the list, double-space it.  Remember to use family names ending in -aceae (e.g., Poaceae not Gramineae).

 

Arrange the list in the following manner:

 

            145  ROSACEAE

                        Rosa aa - cz                  U.S. & Canada

                        R. da - rugosa I                         "

                        R. rugosa II                               "

                        R. rugosa                                  "                    (5 folders)

                        R. ruh - zz, indet.                       "

 

            173  EUPHORBIACEAE

                        Manihot chu - dz                  S. Amer.          

 

DO NOT number with Roman numerals beyond the second cover.

DO NOT request folders in this format:Rosa rugosa II—zz.  Doing so will limit the specimens that can be put in the folder. In contrast, “Rosa rugosa—zz” is ok.  (A folder labeled “Rosa rugosaII”can go before Rosa rugosa—zz.)

 

In some families, specimens from Brazil are filed separately in an alphabetical sequence that precedes those from the rest of South America.  Therefore, when requesting new folders for South American specimens, make it clear on your request list whether the folder should say “South America,” “South America except Brazil,” or “Brazil.”

The following list are the families where Brazil is filed separately:

47  Bromeliaceae

51   Juncaceae

56  Velloziaceae

64  Burmanniaceae

71  Chloranthaceae

90  Balanophoraceae

146  Chrysobalanaceae

148  Connaraceae

162  Rutaceae

162.1  Rhabdodendraceae

171.1  Krameriaceae

172  Dichapetalaceae

209  Caryocaraceae

224  Flacourtiaceae

245  Lecythidaceae

269  Sapotaceae

 

5. If a species has been divided into infraspecific taxa, always label some folders with just the species name (binomial) because some specimens will be identified only to species. For example, a folder in the format below does not allow for a separate folder for specimens identified only to the species C. macrocarpa:

            Campsiandra lb – macrocarpa var. aa – az

 

Instead, two folders should be made,

            Campsiandra lb – macrocarpa I (in which specimens det only to species can be placed)

            Campsiandra macrocarpa  var. aa - az

 

In some species, the infraspecific epithet is used at both the subspecific and varietal rank depending on who has annotated them.  In such a case, file those det to subsp. and var. together in alphabetical order.

 

6. Submit your genus cover request list to Nicole. Let her know whether or not you want to file the new genus covers.

 

7.  Keep a separate list of door cards that need to be retyped. Submit these to Nicole as well.