How to use this guide This field guide is to be used to locate and/or identify unique plant germplasm accessions within the diverse germplasm collections on the USDA-ARS Tropical Agriculture Research Station grounds. It can be used in several ways, but the following steps provide a general guide. 1. Identify plant by common name and/or by scientific name (binomial) in the guide’s index. 2. Find scientific name of plant in specified table. 3. Identify TARS number and Location quadrant from table. 4. Find corresponding field plot and identify accession location based onTARS number and map quadrant. Acknowledgements: This field guide is the compilation of work performed by many important contributors over the years. Contributors include volunteers and students as well as technical and scientific staff that have worked on the plant germplasm collection on the grounds of the USDA-ARS Tropical Agriculture Research Station since its inception in 1902. We recognize the recent efforts in improving the field guide and diverse germplasm collections by Jose ‘Cheo’ Can- cel, Luis De La Cruz, Alcides Morales, Miguel Roman and Pedro Torres. Also, authors acknowl- edge Drs. John Wiersema and Duane Kolterman for their critical review of the document. Disclaimer: All efforts were made to properly identify the plant germplasm on the station grounds and in this ‘Field Guide’. If mistakes are identified, we would appreciate editorial com- ments and or suggestions. These can be sent via email to Brian Irish (
[email protected]. gov). Lastly, this printed/PDF Field Guide ver. 1.0 is a static document whereas plant taxonomy is dynamic.