This group of fields deals with all the descriptive and coded
information that describes the collector's names, field numbers, and dates of collection.
It does not cover
descriptive information about the plant itself nor habitat information (refer previous and
following groups).
Where relevant, all of the standard HISPID3 fields in this group refer
to the original wild source collection information (refer LOCATION GROUP, above for
further details).
If the current accession was taken from a secondary source (eg.
cultivated material, of known or unknown wild source), then the relevant field identifiers
would all be prefaced by the word 'Subsequent' and the relevant Transfer Codes would be
prefaced by a lowercase 's'. For example, the field which contains the information about
the collector's name of the current accession which was taken from cultivated material
would be known as Subsequent Collector's Name and the Transfer Code would be scnam.
The same Domain/Range/Values and Comments apply for these 'Subsequent'
fields as for the relevant 'primary' data fields.
TDWG Short name: COLLECTOR
Description: The name of the person or persons who made the
collection from the wild on which this record is based, and whose collection number is
cited in the next field (refer Collector's Identifier field).
Relevant standards: ABIS, ITF, TLR
Domain/Range/Values: Alpha; any valid collector's name, primary
collector's family name (surname) followed by comma and space (, ) then initials (all in
uppercase and each separated by fullstops). All initials and first letter of the
collector's family name in uppercase. For example, Chambers, P.F. For exceptions to this
format, refer Comments (below).
Comments: The collection number of the record (refer Collector's
Identifier) is regarded as being assigned by the primary collector of the material (as
cited in this field).
If more than one primary collector is associated with the collection
number(cf. Secondary Collector's Name field, below), then the names of these
collectors should be cited in this field, with the comma and space used to separate these
multiple collectors. For example, Tan, F., Jeffreys, R.S.
If necessary, the first and or other given names should be spelt out
when there is a known chance of confusion. For example, to distinguish between Wilson,
Paul G. and Wilson, Peter G. (with a space after the given name; no punctuation, except as
separator between two names, as described above).
If only one person collected the material from the wild, as represented
by this record, then the person's name must be entered only in this field.
Titles should be omitted.
If the family name (surname) consists of a preposition and a
substantive, as in many European names (eg. C.G.G.J. van Steenis), then the preposition is
in lowercase and the substantive has a Capital first letter. The remaining letters are in
lowercase. Names of this form should be transferred as follows:
cnam "Steenis, C.G.G.J. van",
Other examples of similar form include: de la Salle, d'Entrecasteaux,
van Royen. However, it is important to note that many of these names have been anglicised,
particularly in America, such that both parts of the family name are treated as the
substantive. In such examples, these names are to be transferred as follows:
cnam "De Nardi, J.C.",
The prefixes O', Mac' Mc' and M' (eg. MacDougal, McKenzie, O'Donnell)
should all be treated as part of the substantive and hence transferred as part of the
family name. For example:
cnam "McKenzie, V.",
Hyphenated given names should be tranferred as all uppercase, with the
first and last initial separated by a hyphen (without spaces), and only the last initial
terminated by a fullstop. For example:
cnam "Quirico, A-L.",
cnam "Peng, C-I.",
ABIS includes all collectors in one field in the format: surname, comma,
initials. This is not followed in the HISPID3 standard.
If the collector of the record is unknown, then this field should
contain the value 'Anonymous'.
Interpreted information should be enclosed in square brackets, eg.
Anonymous [? F. von Mueller]
The use of a personal herbarium is admissible here: eg. Anonymous (Herb.
J.M. Black).
TDWG Short name: COLLPREFIX, COLLNUMBER, COLLSUFFIX
Description: The sequential or other codified number given to the
specimen at the time of collection, by the primary collector(s), usually as on specimen
label.
Relevant standards: ABIS, ITF, TLR
Domain/Range/Values: Alphanumeric.
1. The Collector's Identifier may consist of any characters in the ASCII character subset.
2. If the Primary Collector's Name is unknown, then this field
would normally not be filled.
Comments:
If the Collector's Identifier is part of an institutional series,
then the institution's code should be included as part of the field number.
Collector's initials should not be included as part of the field number.
If a number or component is interpreted in any way, then the interpreted
part should be enclosed in brackets.
Care should be taken to avoid confusion with institutional collection
series and sheet numbers. Numbers assigned to the specimen after collection should not be
used.
If the collection number is not known, then this field should contain
the value 's.n.'
The proposed TDWG specimen standards include number prefixes and
suffixes. The interpretation of what constitutes these is likely to create more problems
than it solves, so the number is treated as a single unit in HISPID3.
The ABIS standards include a former collection number in this field but
this creates problems if the specimen has also been assigned its own field number.
TDWG Short name: COLLTEAM
Description: Other persons responsible for the collection (from
the wild) together with the primary collector of this record.
Relevant standards: ITF
Domain/Range/Values: Alpha; any valid collector's name, secondary
collector's family name (surname) followed by comma and space (, ) then initials (all in
uppercase and each separated by fullstops)(refer Primary Collector's Name field for
further details).
Comments: Refer Comments under Collector's Name.
Most commonly this field will not be filled, which implies a single
collector; it should not be filled if the Primary Collector's Name(s) field is not
filled.
If there are multiple secondary collectors, then the names of these
collectors should be cited in this field, with the comma and space used to separate these
multiple collectors. For example, Campbell, E.D., Lindley, S.A.
If necessary, the first and or other given names should be spelt out
when there is a known chance of confusion. For example, to distinguish between Wilson,
Paul G. and Wilson, Peter G. (with a space after the given name; no punctuation, except as
separator between two names, as described above).
Titles should be omitted.
Description: Amateur or casual collector who collected specimen
for primary collector.
Domain/Range/Values: Alpha; any valid collector's family name
(surname) followed by comma, then space and initials (refer Primary Collector's Name(s)
field).
TDWG Short name: COLLDATE
Description: The date on which the material was collected, as
represented by this record or, if a second collection date is provided (refer Second
Collection Date field below), then this field contains the earlier collection date.
Relevant standards: ABIS, ITF
Domain/Range/Values: Integer; any chronologically acceptable
date, year (4 digits) followed by month (2 digits) and then day (2 digits), without spaces
between each.
1. In this notation, leading zeroes must be included for months and
days, ie. January is coded as '01' not '1' and the 4th day is coded as '04' not '4'.
| Example: | 19851109 | 9 November 1985 |
| 19510203 | 3 February 1951 |
2. If the day of the month is not known, then the last two digits should be omitted.
Example: March 1901 would preferably be transferred as 190103.
3. If the day and month are not known, the last four digits should be
omitted and just the 4 digit year information interchanged.
Note: The year is transferred as a full 4digit number to
facilitate the use of the system in the next century, as well as to track verifications
from the previous century.
TDWG Short name: COLLDATE2
Description: The most recent date on which the material was
collected, as represented by this record, when a range of collection dates are provided
(refer Collection Date field above).
Relevant Standards: ABIS, ITF
Domain/Range/Values: Integer; any chronologically acceptable
date, year (4 digits) followed by month (2 digits) and then day (2 digits), without spaces
between each.
1. In this notation, leading zeroes must be included for months and
days, ie. January is coded as '01' not '1' and the 4th day is coded as '04' not '4'.
| Example: | 19660419 | 19 April 1966 |
| 19451202 | 2 December 1945 |
2. If the day of the month is not known, then the last two digits should be omitted.
Example: June 1911 would preferably be transferred as 191106.
3. If the day and month are not known, the last four digits should be
omitted and just the 4 digit year information interchanged.
Notes: The year as a full 4digit number to facilitate the use
of the system in the next century, as well as to track verifications from the previous
century.
Description: A field which allows the description of imprecise
collection dates which do not conform to the international 'Date' data standard.
Domain/Range/Values: Alpha-Integer; any chronologically
acceptable date which can not be converted to the format of the previous collection date
fields.
Comments: This field allows for the interchange of the following
types of collection date information:
For example:
'Spring 1912', 'late 1800's', 'end of 19th Century'
HISPID and ITF grouped these data into two fields (namely 'Kind of
Collection & Additional Components Flag' and 'Voucher Flag') with several categories
included in each. However, it may be preferable to consider separating each category into
distinct fields for transfer. This would readily enable unique identifiers (such as
institutional 'spirit' numbers and photographic numbers) to be transferred with each
category.
TDWG Short name: NATOBJECT (?)
Description: The kind of specimenassociated material
represented by this record number, such as sheet, packets, spirit, slides etc., not
propagating material.
Relevant standards: TLR
Domain/Range/Values:, Alphabetic; this field must consist of one
of the values in the table below.
| Value of Field | Meaning |
| Alcohol | Alcohol or any other fluid preserved material |
| Bark | Bark sample |
| Boxed | Boxed specimen |
| Cytological | Cytological preparation |
| Fruit | Fruit, carpological |
| Illustration | Illustrations |
| Image | Electronic image |
| Other | Other |
| Packet | Specimen stored in Packet |
| Pollen | Pollen sample |
| Negatives, black & white and colour photographic prints (including Cibachrome) | |
| Reference | Reference herbarium |
| Seed | Seed collection |
| Sheet | Herbarium sheet |
| Slide | Microscope slides |
| Transparency | Transparencies, colour slides |
| Vertical | Vertically filed, |
| Wood | Wood sample |
Comments: The difficulty with this field for interchange is that
this information may only describe the attributes of the collection in one institution
(namely, the originating institution). It may not be an accurate description of the
interchange material, so care is needed in using this field as part of the transfer file
for exchange material.
Since a single collection may have more than one of the above
attributes, the relevant individual descriptor codes should be transferred in alphabetical
order, separated by a comma and a space. For example: if a collection consists of an
herbarium sheet, alcohol-preserved material, and a colour photographic print, then this
information would be transferred as Alcohol, Print, Sheet (note: each codes is
singular, not plural).
Description: A flag to indicate if the specimen serves as a
voucher for some special purpose.
Domain/Range/Values: Alphabetic; this field must consist of one
of the values in the table below:
| Value of Field | Meaning |
| Anatomical | anatomical |
| Cytological | cytological |
| DNA | DNA Studies |
| Ecological | ecological |
| Flora | Flora project |
| Illustration | illustration |
| Indigenous | indigenous uses, ethnobotany |
| Living | living, including seed bank |
| Other | palynological |
| Photograph | photograph |
| Phytochemical | phytochemical, pharmacological |
| Unknown | voucher for unknown purpose |
| Zoological | zoological |
Comments: The presence of these flags does not necessarily imply
the existence of supplementary material (eg. spirit, or slides) as described in the Kind
of Collection & Additional Components Flag field (above), although some may have
been prepared at some stage.
Since a single collection may be a voucher for more than one of the
above categories, the relevant individual descriptor codes should be transferred in
alphabetical order, separated by a comma and a space. For example: if a collection is a
voucher for the current 'Flora of Australia' project and for an ecological survey, then
this information would be transferred as Ecological, Flora (note: each code is
singular, not plural).
TDWG Short name: OBJECTS
Description: The number of herbarium sheets, packets, boxes,
etc., that make up the specimen represented by this record.
Domain/Range/Values: Integer; any reasonable number of parts.
Comments: This field is most useful for the control of loan
specimens that consist of multiple sheets or parts. It may not be so useful in other
interchange files because this information may only describe the attributes of the
collection in one institution (namely, the originating institution). It may not be an
accurate description of the interchange material, so care is needed in using this field as
part of the transfer file.
Description: A code indicating the presence of living material
for cultivation, collected at the time of collection of the specimen on which the record
is based.
Domain/Range/Values: Alphabetic; this field must consist of one
of the values in the table below:
| Values in Field | Meaning |
| Cutting | cuttings |
| Division | division (of clumps etc.) |
| Plant | plants (whole) |
| Seed | seeds |
Comments: This field applies to the type of material gathered and
not to the source of material.
If this field is not filled then it can be assumed that either no
propagating material was collected or that the existence of propagating material was not
recorded.
The presence of a propagating material code does not necessarily imply
that live material is still in existence in cultivation.
As with the Kind Of Collection & Additional Components field,
if more than one type of material was collected for cultivation, then the relevant
individual descriptor codes should be transferred in alphabetical order, separated by a
comma and a space. For example: the information for a collection which consisted of
cuttings and seeds would be transferred as Cutting, Seed (Note: each code is
singular, not plural).
Description: A code to indicate the provenance of the accession
of living material represented by the herbarium voucher.
Domain/Range/Values: Alphabetic; this field must consist of one
of the values in the table below:
| Values in Field | Meaning |
| Cult. ex Wild | Propagule(s) from a wild source plant in cultivation |
| Cult. non-wild | Accession not of wild source |
| Unknown | Insufficient data to determine which of the above categories apply |
| Wild | Accession of wild source |
Comments: The terms outlined above are defined as follows:
| Cult. ex Wild |
Accessions derived by propagation directly from an original wild source plant. The method of propagation must be recorded in the Propagation History field. If the propagation is not directly from the original wild source plant, a complete history of the intermediate propagation steps must be known, otherwise the accession should be placed in the following category. |
| Cult. non-Wild |
Accessions derived from cultivated plants where the immediate source plant does not have a propagation history that can be traced in detail to a wild plant. This category normally includes all cultivars. |
| Unknown | Accessions where there is insufficient data or knowledge to know which of the three above categories applies. |
| Wild | Accessions which originate from material collected in the wild. The accession has not been propagated further, except in the case of plants that may have been grown on from the original stock. The accession may have come directly from the wild, or from a botanic garden or gene bank acting as a distribution centre. Accessions in this category will usually have accompanying collection data, but the category also includes accessions which are known to be of direct wild origin but which do not have such additional data. |
Description: A code to indicate the nature of the production of
the living plant material vouched by the herbarium material, for use in association with
the previous field, Provenance Type Flag.
Relevant standards: ITF
Domain/Range/Values: One or two alphabetic letters, uppercase, as
designated below.
The entry must be one of the following values:
| Values in Field | Meaning |
| I | Individual wild plant(s) |
| S | Seed or plant arising from seed (excluding apomixis) |
| SA | From open pollination (from the wild) |
| SB | From controlled pollination |
| SC | From plants that are isolated and definitely self-pollinated |
| V | Plant material derived asexually |
| VA | From vegetative reproduction (including vegetative apomixis) |
| VB | From apomictic cloning (agamospermy) |
| U | Propagation history uncertain or no information |
Comments
| 1. | The second character is optional to provide more detailed information to be recorded. It is recommended that both characters are used wherever possible. |
| 2. | The value 'I' refers to complete individuals (or ramets) that have been removed from the wild, or to accessions which are growing naturally within the area of the establishment to which the record system applies. For example, this allows for individuals or groups of individual growing naturally (ie. not deliberately introduced) in reserve areas to receive full accession status. |
| 3. | Seed set by apomixis should be coded 'VB' rather than by any of the 'S' codes. |
| 4. | Most wild-collected seed will be the result of open pollination, and even taxa which are fully self-compatible will normally show a small amount of outbreeding. Only if it is absolutely certain that wild-collected seed was set as the result of selfing (eg. cleistogamy, controlled selfing) should the entry be set to 'SC'. Occasionally wild-collected seed will be the result of controlled experimental pollination, where the entry should be set to 'SB' (or 'SC' if selfed), but the majority of wild seed should be coded 'SA'. |
| 5. | Where material has been derived from cuttings, divisions, or other vegetative propagules (including material for micropropagation) of wild plants, the entry should be set to 'VA', and not 'I'. Such vegetative propagules may potentially differ slightly from the wild individual by somatic variation. |
| 6. | If the accession is of wild provenance (Provenance Type = Wild), then Propagation History cannot be 'U'. |
| 7. | If Propagation History is 'I' (individual wild plants), Provenance Type must be Wild. |
Description: A code to indicate the type of donor from which the accession was obtained.
Relevant standards: ITF
Domain/Range/Values: A single uppercase alphabetic letter, as
designated below:
1. The entry must consist of one of the following characters:
| Values in Field | Meaning |
| B | Botanic Garden or Arboretum |
| E | Expedition |
| G | Gene Bank |
| H | Horticultural Association or Garden Club |
| I | Individual |
| M | Municipal Department |
| N | Nursery or other commercial establishment |
| O | Other |
| R | Other research, field or experimental station |
| S | Staff of institution to which record system applies |
| V | University Department |
| U | Unknown or not applicable |
2. If more than one individual descriptor code is applicable to this
record, then this information should be transferred in alphabetical order, without spaces
or punctuation. For example: the information for a collection which was collected on an
expedition by a University Department would be transferred as EV (also refer Comments
below).
Comments: The ITF2 transfer format recommends that 'if more than
one entry applies (eg. a plant collected by the botanic garden staff on an expedition),
the highest entry in the table should be used. The ITF2 standard lists the above table in
the following order: E G B R S V H M N I O U.
The purpose of this field is to allow the inclusion of information about
the contents of the Donor Field. If the value for Donor Type Flag is O, then
the Donor field description (see below) should be worded so as to indicate the type
of donor.
Description: The person, institution or business from which the accession was obtained.
Relevant standards: ITF, Index Herbariorum
Domain/Range/Values: Alphanumeric; free text, use institutional code wherever possible.
Comments: Plant material may come to an institution from many
sources and in various ways. The information under these headings cannot be coded or fully
standardised. The following guidelines should be used wherever possible:
| 1. | Accessions obtained directly from the wild, usually received from the collector. The name of the collector (surname, comma, space, initials with full stops, and standard capitalisation) should be given first, followed by the name of the country or area to which the expedition was made; or if the expedition has its own title, eg. Sino-British Expedition to China, this should be followed by the name of the country or area. Abbreviations or truncations can be used as necessary. |
| 2. | Accessions obtained from other institutions, using standard Index Herbariorum codes, or in full if institution does not have such a code. |
| 3. | Accessions obtained from private individuals. The minimum information should be the person's name (surname, comma, space, initials with full stops, and standard capitalisation) and country. More detail can be added, such as town and province, if necessary to identify collector. |
| 4. | Accessions obtained from horticultural or specialist plant societies. The name of the society (truncated as necessary) followed by the name of the country in which the society is based. Avoid abbreviations where the meaning is not clear. |
| 5. | Accessions obtained from gene banks, urban parks, garden centres or commercial suppliers. The name of institution (truncated as necessary) followed by the name of the country in which the institution is based. |
Description: Used when a living accession is transferred from one
herbarium, garden or gene bank (or other institution that maintains a record system) to
another, this is the unique identifier from the previous institution's record system.
Relevant standards: ITF
Domain/Range/Values: Alphanumeric; the Donor's Accession
Identifier may consist of any characters in the ASCII characters. It must be prefaced by
the institutional code of the donating institution.
Comments: If the plant was originally collected by or for the
donating institution from the wild, or came from a source that did not have a record
system, then this field should not be filled.
Otherwise, the Donor's Accession Identifier should be a unique
set of characters that identifies each accession in the donor's record system. Or in the
case of multiple accessions of the same taxon from one collection site or multiple plants
derived from a single seed sowing, a single value for the Donor's Accession Identifier
field is permissible.
Notes: This field is not the Collector's identifier for
the accession; those data are held under the Collector's Identifier field. It is
the donor's record system identifier. This identifier is often attached to the sheet in
the home institution and is not always present on donated or exchanged replicates.