* Description of plant - blooms & growth habit
* Including variation within species
* Photos - flower; inflorescence; growth habit - including variations
* Growing environment in nature
* Typical flowering season
* Cultural suggestions
* At least sufficient taxonomic information to distinguish between what Jones
calls it & how we used to know it

I know photos cost to include in reference books. But for many of my preferred
plants growth habit is a key id characteristic. A lovely flash photo of a
single bloom against a black background is nice. But then you've got to try to
translate a textual description of inflorescence & plant growth habit into a
mental picture to relate to your plant. I guess I never grew out ot the picture
book phase!

On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:18:26 GMT, "Kye" wrote:

OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for comparison
to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.

Dave Gillingham
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