multiple [collectors]

[Aleta Karstad]

JOSEPH E. LAFERRIERE wrote:
>
>  I have seen herbarium labels with as many as 10
> collectors listed, even for a small herb. This is in
> my opinion rather silly. The point to giving a collector's
> name on a herbarium label is not to give any kind of
> credit to the collector or someone who may have been helping
> her collect specimens. The point is to create some sort of
> easy way to cite the specimen in print. To say simply
> "Laferriere 3248 at CHSA" is a fast, convenient, unambiguous
> way to refer to the specimen. Saying "Laferriere, Martinez,
> Dumbrowski, Sanchez, Van Beethoven, Chang, Schneider, Smith,
> O'Brian and Dax 3248 at CHSA" is not.

* having a short name for a specimen may be a consideration in
uncatalogued plant collections, but in catalogued collections the 'name'
of the specimen is surely its insitutional acronymn and catalogue number.
My understanding of the reason for listing the whole party present when a
collection was made isn't to distribute credit, but so that a subsequent
user of the specimen knows whose field notes or recollections may contain
information that may be relevant to understanding something about the
circumstances under which the collection was made.

fred schueler.                                           Y
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