History of GRIN-Global Taxonomy
GRIN-Global taxonomic data were originally extracted from the
Nomenclature File of the former Plant Exploration and Taxonomy Laboratory
(PETL). The origin of the Nomenclature File and its relationship to the former
Plant Introduction Office (PIO) since 1898 were described at the First
International Symposium on Cultivated Plants (Terrell, 1986a). The
purpose of the File from the beginning was to provide correct scientific
names for the plants introduced into the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS).
Many germplasm introductions were received by exchange
with foreign institutions, and others were collected throughout the world
by American plant explorers. All the introductions accessioned through the
PIO were assigned consecutive Plant Inventory (PI) numbers and
distributed to the appropriate specialist or germplasm site. Other introductions went directly to germplasm stations and many were later processed
by the PIO.
For each accession, a determination of the correct
taxonomic nomenclature was made by taxonomists maintaining the
Nomenclature File. While most scientific names in the File were the result of
plant introductions, many names, mainly of economic plants, were added by USDA
taxonomists for other reasons. Prior to GRIN-2, the version of GRIN
initiated at the time of the First Symposium, the PIO accession data and
PETL nomenclature data were in separate card files. The transfer of the
Nomenclature File to GRIN-2 was completed in 1987, thus making this
taxonomy directly accessible to the entire NPGS community.
Since the assimilation of the Nomenclature File into
GRIN, GRIN-Global taxonomic data have continued to expand in response to the needs
of NPGS, the Agricultural Research Service, and other agricultural
agencies. An extensive publication on world economic plants was completed
from GRIN data in 1999, with a second revision in 2013, thereby further extended the coverage of GRIN taxonomic
data to all plants in international commerce. This publication, entitled
World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, may be obtained from
CRC Press. Data from this publication may
be queried on the internet here as well.
From a previous gopher server, the online
interface for GRIN taxonomic data was developed and implemented in 1994,
enabling users from around the world to access this information easily
and efficiently. GRIN-Global taxonomic data can thus be queried by scientific
name (family, genus, or species), common name, economic use, or geographical
distribution. Specialized searches on GRIN-Global data relating to economic
plants, crop wild relatives, rare plants, noxious weeds, families and genera, or seed
associations are also possible. Since GRIN-Global taxonomic data have been
available online, usage has grown at a nearly exponential rate. Currently
over 40,000 reports per day from GRIN-Global taxonomic data are output to users and search engines
from around the world as a result of these queries.