Abstract
The great need for adequate documentation of germplasm collections, including accurate geographic location, needs again to be stressed. We discuss 3 reported stations for teosinte (Zea spp., Gramineae) in Guatemala. The first was discovered by Melhus and Chamberlain in 1949; an attempt by the senior author to relocate this station in 1976 was unsuccessful, but we now have a good idea of where this population (probablyZ. luxurians) may occur. The second, that of Rojas in 1942, lies well outside the known ranges of either of the 2 Guatemalan teosintes, Z.luxurians andZ. mays subsp.parviglumis var.huehuetenangensis. The third, a collection of Steyermark’s, turns out to be aTripsacum. We urge plant scientists, applied botanists, geographers, anthropologists, and others to provide voucher specimens with accurate location data for all plant populations that they study.
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Iltis, H.H., Kolterman, D.A. & Benz, B.F. Accurate documentation of Germplasm: The lost guatemalan teosintes (Zea, Gramineae). Econ Bot 40, 69–77 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02858948
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02858948