For ease of computerization, 2,196 literature abbreviations have thus far been developed in GRIN for standard references, floras, and serial publications commonly seen in the database. These are only cursorily displayed to public users of GRIN, although for brevity they have been used in publications such as Technical Bulletins 1757 and 1796. They are employed for the 308,500 literature citations in GRIN which link to 50,122 accepted and 27,722 synonym species or infraspecies names. An additional 23,136 references exist in GRIN for genera, these mainly documenting recent taxonomic revisions or monographs of all or part of a genus or recent phylogenetic studies. Though the number of references presented for a given taxon may be extensive, the listings should not be considered exhaustive. If all reported information (taxonomy, nomenclature, distribution, etc.) is documented in a few references, these might be the only ones cited. Other references may treat the taxon, but add no new information, so these may not be entered in GRIN. This is particularly true for genera with recent comprehensive monographic treatments that are the source of most GRIN taxonomic data for those genera. Other references may be included only to document alternative taxonomic treatments, orthographies, or authorship for a name. Generally these alternatives will be indicated with comments following the reference citation. The absence of a comment can usually be taken to imply correspondence in treatment between GRIN TAXONOMY and the particular reference.