Talk:Cowan s.n., Darjeeling (1923)

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Discussion for: Cowan s.n., Darjeeling (1923) • View • Links • Related changes

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Page scope

Cowan s.n., Darjeeling (1923) is an Accession — the atomic unit of documentation representing a specific collection event. All scientific data lives here.

Data verification

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Discussion

Evidentiary scope

The slip says the plant grew on dry land and was two feet high. The word naming where it was brought from cannot be read securely, so the sheet does not show whether the plant was cultivated or growing wild. The accession is classified as Other. It does not establish a continuing population, a feral population, a landrace or a living germplasm holding. No conservation priority is assigned.

Georeferencing

The only place named with certainty is the printed series, Flora of Darjeeling. In 1923 Darjeeling district also contained the present Kalimpong district, which was formed from it in 2017 (Kalimpong District). The sheet is therefore placed only in West Bengal. The word after From on the slip reads most like Home and was not matched to a place. No district, locality or coordinate is asserted.

Editorial treatment

The slip dates the gathering 3/8/23. RBGE and GBIF read the year as 1893. The accession uses 1923 for the reasons given on Talk:Cowan s.n., Algarah (1923). The printed form's date line begins 19. J. M. Cowan was born in 1892 and joined the Indian Forest Service in 1914 (RBGE Archive). The companion sheet carries the stamps of the Imperial Forestry Institute herbarium at Oxford.

The last word of the slip begins Bas and ends in a stroke that may be a crossed t. It may read Basti (a settlement), which would contrast with Forest on the Algarah slip of the next day, but the reading is not secure and the article does not give it.

The title uses the printed series name, Darjeeling, as its locality under naming reference §8A, because the slip's own place word cannot be read. Gangajat is kept as written, with the Devanagari गानजा जात beside it. The collector field uses the printed form J. M. Cowan.

These notes were recorded during accession preparation. Source citations remain in the article. Éloise 21:16, 17 September 2026 (+07)