Allocation of Propagation Numbers at the ANBG.

The process of allocating Propagation Identification numbers (Prop_IDs) to plants within the ANBG has changed over the years. Two types of numbers are important and they are related:

Herbarium Accession numbers – CBG or CANB
Living collection Propagation Identifiers – ANBG, CBG and CANB

Numbering Series at the ANBG and the Herbarium

Three number series exist. Only CANB is actively being added to. Numbers in the series were used in chronological order:

ANBG – these Prop_IDs were allocated before 1977 and only applied to living plants in the ANBG collection. ANBG Herbarium vouchers collected before 1977 were allocated CBG numbers. The first two digits represent the Year of allocation. This series was stopped in 1977 when Prop_IDs were changed into the same CBG series as the herbarium accession numbers.
eg. Allocasuarina inophloia ANBG 721906 is the living plant and CBG 43202 is the herbarium voucher.
(The 'A' prefix is used to identify these numbers on plant tags).
CBG – Before 1977 these numbers only applied to herbarium vouchers and did not always begin with the year of allocation (eg. CBG 43202). From 1977 - 1999 these were applied to both ANBG living collections as Prop_IDs and ANBG herbarium specimens as Accession Numbers. The first number in this series applied to a living plant was 7702001. The first two digits represent the Year of allocation.
eg. Micromyrtus ciliata CBG 8800148 is the living plant Prop_ID and CBG 8800148 is the herbarium voucher.
(The 'B' prefix is used to identify these numbers on plant tags).
CANB – from early 2000 all new living and herbarium collections were assigned Prop_IDs and Herbarium numbers in the CANB ascending number series.
The first two digits do not represent the year of allocation.
With the formation of the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research and amalgamation of the ANBG Herbarium (CBG) with The Australian National Herbarium (CANB), database support was achieved by merging the IBIS and ANHSIR databases and adopting the CANB number series throughout the ANBG and Herbarium. Prior to 2000 CANB numbers were only assigned to Herbarium specimens in The Australian National Herbarium (CANB).
eg. Streblus brunonianus CANB 631799 is the living plant and CANB 631799 is the herbarium voucher.
(The 'C' prefix is used to identify these numbers on plant tags).

It was realised that in 2000 the Y2K computing issue of beginning PropIDs with "00" would became a problem, since they were represented in the system as numbers, and leading zeroes are irrelevant in calculating numeric values.
Thus, from January 2000, the first two digits of numbers on plants in the Gardens can no longer be used to establsh the year of allocation, this starts with CANB 606159, cuttings propagated on 6 January 2000. The year of propagation is now embossed on the aluminium tag as a full date.

'Events'

Prop_IDs and Herbarium Accession numbers are allocated when a new propagation or collecting ‘Event’ occurs. An ‘Event’ is a unique date and place when plant material is collected. Collecting may occur in the wild or in cultivation and be of living and/or herbarium material. It is important for the management of our collections to be able to know when and where collections have been made.The concept of an ‘Event’ is critical to the:

allocation of new Prop_IDs during propagation and re-propagation;
allocation of Herbarium Accession numbers, and;
the hierarchical storage of information in the databases of both the herbarium and living collections.

Some examples are given below but the numbers used are randomly selected and are not meant to represent actual plants.Repropagation, Parents and Original ParentsWhen a plant is re-propagated and a new Prop_ID is allocated the database links the new and original accessions by recording the Prop_ID number of the parent plants in fields called the Parent and Original Parent. The first time a re-propagation occurs the Parent and Original Parent are the same. However, when the re-propagated plant is in turn re-propagated then the Parent and Original Parent are different. Eg. (a real example)

Plant Name	Prop_ID	Parent Prop_ID	Original Parent Prop_ID
Eremophila nivea	CBG 9515486
Eremophila nivea	CBG 9808069	CBG 9515486	CBG 9515486
Eremophila nivea	CANB 623302	CBG 9808069	CBG 9515486

Event Examples:

Event 1 : Original Wild Collections

This table shows three examples of Events. Two of the collecting Events occurred at the same place (A) but on different days, and they may also have been collections from the same or different plants.

Event	Unit	Item (collections made)	Herb Code
Wild collection at place A on 01/01/2001	Plant 1	1. Herbarium voucher	CANB 612345
		2. Cutting	CANB 612345
		3. Seed	CANB 612345
	Plant 2	1. Herbarium voucher	CANB 612346
	Plant 2	2. Cuttings	CANB 612346
	Plant 3	1. Herbarium voucher	CANB 612347
	Plant 3	2. Seed	CANB 612347
Wild collection at place B on 01/01/2001	Plant 1	1. Cuttings only (ie. no herb voucher)	CANB 612348
Wild collection at place A on 20/06/2003	Plant 1	1. Cuttings only (ie. no herb voucher)	CANB 612349

All accessions (whether Living or Herbarium) are assigned a Herbarium Accession Number and the data for the original collecting Event are stored with this number. When cuttings from the wild are sent to the ANBG nursery they are allocated a Prop_ID the same as the original Herbarium voucher eg. cuttings from Herbarium CANB 612346 become Prop_ID CANB 612346 (although they are often allocated new and different Prop_ID numbers linked to the Herbarium specimen).

Event 2: Herbarium vouchers from cultivated plants

Sometimes no herbarium voucher is collected in the wild during the original collecting Event (eg. Herbarium CANB 612348 above where only cuttings were collected, and the Herbarium record is only represented by data) because the wild plants were not flowering or fruiting (ie. sterile). In this case we wait until the plants cultivated from these cuttings grow to flower and fruit to collect the herbarium cultivated voucher, which is allocated a brand new Herbarium number. The herbarium voucher is required to confirm the identification and as a permanent record of the collection:

Event

Unit

Item (collections made)

Herb Code

Collection from cultivated plant

(Prop_ID CANB 612348)

Plant 1 in Section 33

1. Herbarium voucher for identification

CANB 620401

Collection from cultivated plant

(Prop_ID CBG 8802345)

Plant 2 in Section 33

1. Herbarium voucher for identification

CANB 620402

Event 3: Collection of cuttings or seed from cultivated plants

When a plant in the ANBG collection needs to be re-propagated from cuttings or seed, or seed is collected for storage in the Seed Bank, a new Event occurs and new Prop_IDs are allocated. An interim 'ex' number is often applied initially and the new accession number is allocated as soon as possible eg. living plant ex-CBG 8506789 (eg. CANB 640321) or seed (eg. CANB 640322). In the example below, CANB 640321 and 640322 each have Parent and Original Parent Prop_IDs as CBG 8506789 (see last table).

Event

Unit

Item (collections made)

Prop_ID

Collection from cultivated plant

(Prop_ID CBG 8506789)

Plant 1 in Section 33

1. Cuttings

ex-CBG 8506789 until a new one is allocated eg.

CANB 640321

2. Seed

ex-CBG 8506789 until a new one is allocated eg.

CANB 640322

When CANB 640321 grows and in another new collecting Event cuttings are taken from it for propagation, the progeny will be allocated new Prop_ID numbers again eg. CANB 660956. In this case, CANB 660956 has a Parent Prop_ID CANB 640321 and Original Parent Prop_ID CBG 8506789 (see last table).

Event

Unit

Item (collections made)

Prop_ID

Collection from cultivated plant

(Prop_ID CANB 640321)

Plant 1 in Section 40

1. Cuttings

ex-CANB 640321 until a new one is allocated eg.

CANB 660956

The relationship between these Prop_IDs is as follows:

Prop_ID	Parent Prop_ID	Original Parent Prop_ID
CBG 8506789
CANB 640321	CBG 8506789	CBG 8506789
CANB 660956	CANB 640321	CBG 8506789
CANB 640322	CBG 8506789	CBG 8506789

Questions

Are all new Propagation Numbers now in the CANB series?

Yes.

Can a plant with a CANB number have a Parent or Original Parent with an ANBG or CBG Prop_ID number?

Yes. Because of the need to allocate new Propagation ID numbers to collecting Events, a new Propagation number is allocated when the seeds or cuttings are taken. A propagation event that occurred after 1999 would have a CANB number even though the parent plant may have been collected many years earlier.

Would any number in the ANBG or CBG series with the appearance of having been issued prior to 1991 always have a pre-1991 lineage?

Yes. Numbers have been allocated in sequential order in all the series (ANBG, CBG and CANB) and in the ANBG and CBG series the first two digits represent the Year of allocation.
The exceptions are in very early ANBG and CBG numbers that were allocated sequentially (eg. CBG 43202) and so did not have the year of allocation as part of the number.

Can the Herbarium accession number (for the herbarium voucher) and the Prop_ID (for the living plant or seed) numbers be the same?

Yes. All items collected at the same time as part of one Event can get the same number eg. Herbarium voucher, cuttings, seed, photographs.

Are the Herbarium accession number (for the herbarium voucher) and the Prop_ID (for the living plant or seed) numbers always the same?

No. The numbers are often different because they were collected at different times as part of different Events. The Herbarium voucher may be collected first and obtain one number, and cuttings and seed collected at the same time get the same number. Plants grown from cuttings or seed collected at a later date will get different numbers.
If the herbarium voucher is collected from a cultivated plant it will always get a new number.