How Purdue Arboretum accession numbers work
Every tree, shrub, and mass planting in the Arboretum collection has an accession number. It works like a library call number or a social security number for a plant. It’s unique, it’s assigned once, and it follows that plant for its whole life. If you’re looking at the tour, a dedication listing, or a plant record, this number ties them together.
What one looks like
2024_00012*B
| Part | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 2024 | The year the plant was installed. |
| 00012 | The 12th new planting recorded in that year. The count restarts at 00001 each January. |
| B | Which plant it is within a group of the same kind planted together. |
The letter at the end
Say we plant three red maples on the same day. They share one sequence number and get letters in order:
- 2024_00012*A
- 2024_00012*B
- 2024_00012*C
Each tree still has its own distinct number. The shared number indicates they’re the same species and were planted on the same day. If a group runs past Z, the letters continue AA, AB, and so on. A single plant, or the first of a group, simply gets *A.
Details worth knowing
- Trees and planting beds use the same counter. Individual plants and mass plantings (beds of shrubs or perennials) draw from one numbering system. No two items share a number.
- Other campuses carry a prefix. Purdue campuses other than West Lafayette use a campus code before the number. West Lafayette numbers have no prefix.
- Older plants get the year they were entered. Plants installed before 2009 have no reliable planting date in our records. They are numbered with the year they were added to the system, not the year they went into the ground. So the year in a number is a record-keeping year. It isn’t always a planting year.
- Numbers beginning with ORIG are legacy plants. These are plants that existed on campus in an older database, before the Arboretum began.
- The number is a name tag, not a ranking. A low sequence number doesn’t mean a more important or older plant. It only shows the order of entry within that year.
- Numbers are assigned automatically. Once the Arboretum records a new planting and its species, its nightly update assigns it the next number. The number stays with the plant when other details change, such as its measurements, status, or species name.
