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Old 20-12-2006, 11:49 AM posted to sci.bio.botany
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Default ### Mini FAQ for sci.bio.botany # 088 ###

A mini "Frequently Asked Questions" for sci.bio.botany

This is an unmonitored newsgroup that deals with botany in all its aspects,
but excluding topics covered in other newsgroups, such as gardening,
cooking with plants, education about plants, etc. In practice
questions are posed in a very wide range of topics: for an in-depth
impression see the archives at
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search.

Frequently Asked Questions include:
Can someone ID this flower?
Can someone ID this fruit?
Can someone ID this leaf?
etc

A question that occurs with moderate frequency is "I have this school
project. Can someone write my paper for me?" but this often meets with the
response: "try Google".

The information on plants, available on the world wide web, appears to be
expanding at breakneck speed so Google can indeed yield much information on
plants. However, reliability varies. In any Google search wikipedia is
likely to feature prominently: it will be clear that the information on
plants in wikipedia ranges from very good to pure fiction. One of the ways
to avoid this is to use http://www.google.com/advanced_scholar_search.
However there are a number of good websites with authoritative information
on plants such as
http://www.efloras.org/index.aspx : a very good site with many floras. Or

http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxecon.pl
Well-kept database of economically important plants.

ICBN, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature at
http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code
is the Code regulating scientific plant names.
A new edition was published in the second half of 2006.

Not authorative are sites such as

Plantfinder at http://www.rhs.org.uk/RHSPlantFinder/plantfinder.asp
This is a directory of names of plants offered for sale in the UK. Standards
are pretty high, both as concerns correct spelling and currency of names.
Note that the RHS does provide some authoritative lists for the purpose of
cultivar registration.

A competing, but as yet small-scale plantfinder
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/p...der/Search.asp

A lively-looking site with a database of cultivated plants is at:
http://plantsdatabase.com/
This also offers pictures. It is unclear how good a standard is reached?

TROPICOS (or W3TROPICOS) at
http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/vast.html
This database of scientific names is maintained at the Missouri Botanical
Gardens. It is to be kept in mind that this is a work in progress, with
quality and coverage varying, being especially good in areas where the
Missouri Botanical Gardens is active. Some entries are merely copies of
entries in IPNI.

IPNI at www.ipni.org, www.uk.ipni.org or www.us.ipni.org
Basically this attempts to be an index of scientific names (at the rank of
genus and of species, or below) of vascular plants ever published, in the
form they were published (sometimes mandatory corrections were made). It is
not complete in any sense. Names below the rank of species were indexed in
only one of the component indexes, until recently. The names listed are not
necessarily spelled correctly by today's standards.

ING at http://ravenel.si.edu/botany/ing/ingForm.cfm
(genus names only, but at a considerably higher standard than IPNI)

Algal names:
http://128.32.109.44/e-ina.html

Fungal names:
http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/NAMES.ASP

A checklist for US plants:
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/b98/check98.htm
More US plant data:
http://plants.usda.gov/index.html

Multilingual lists of common names:
http://www.liberherbarum.com/Index.htm

SYSTEMATICS
It is in the nature of things that Systems of Taxonomic Classification
change whenever new techniques of research become available, yielding new
information. The APG-system (based on two chloroplast genes, supported by a
gene with a ribosomal function) stepped forward first in 1993 (in modest
form) and was published in full glory in 1998, with APG II being published
in 2003. It made a big impression quickly. APG is an abbreviation
(Angiosperm Phylogeny Group), indicating the group of scientists
collaborating in this venture (composition of the group is not quite
constant, over time).
An overview of the APG system can be found at
http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b...e/apg/APG.html or
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/newgate/cronang.htm
with APG II at
http://www.systbot.uu.se/classificat...sification.htm
An extensive website devoted to the APG is at
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/welcome.html
There also is a system book, "Plant Systematics, a phylogenetic
approach", now in its second edition (2002).
The previous well-accepted system, now starting to be displaced by
APG but still going strong in many places, is that by Arthur Cronquist
(1919-1992), with the main book published at 1981. A popular system book
based on the Cronquist System is "Flowering Plants of the World" by Heywood
(latest news is that Heywood is rewriting to conform to APG). The standard
reference on plant taxonomy, The Plant-book by D.J.Mabberley, now in its
second edition (1997, 2002), also uses a version of Cronquist, but the third
edition will use APG II. It was due earlier in the year, and is now overdue.

A taxonomic database that more or less follows APG II is the NCBI taxonomy
browser at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy...hmode=1&unlock

(The database at ITIS still follows Cronquist )

The Tree of Life for land plants:
http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Embryop...p=Green_plants

Many databases of taxonomic data have been brought into DELTA and are at
http://delta-intkey.com/www/data.htm
(previously http://biodiversity.bio.uno.edu/delta/www/data.htm),
such as plant family descriptions at
http://delta-intkey.com/angio/index.htm
(previously at http://biodiversity.bio.uno.edu/delta/angio/)

PICTURES
Pictures of a very wide range of plants, arranged by family
www.plantsystematics.org

Pictures of plants, by a botanist based on Hawaii:
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...cronq_judd.htm

Pictures of California wildflowers at
http://dlp.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/flora/

Just stunning pictures:
http://www.goetgheluck.com/REPORT/Pl.../xxx_1of3.html

Pictures of trees (Northeast of US):
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/factsheets.cfm

Pictures of trees (Southeast of US):
http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/samuelson/dendrology/

Pictures of trees (Southwest of US):
http://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/trees1.html

More trees:
http://www.treelink.org/flashcard/
http://www.treeguide.com/
US State Trees:
http://www.treesny.com/trees_stateTrees.htm
Some popular tropical trees:
http://www.zoneten.com/FloweringTrees.htm

Brazilian trees:
http://www.arvore.hpg.ig.com.br/index3.htm

Amazon fruits:
http://amazonflora.com/

Gymnosperms:
http://www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/conifers/
giving a great deal of detail

KEYS
A simple key for trees is at:
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/key...treekey01.html

Several keys:
http://flora.huh.harvard.edu:8080/actkey/index.jsp

ALIEN INVADERS:
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/

invading Canada :
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/weeds.htm

NG-RELATED SITES
A field trip in West Texas:
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/WINSTON/bwinston1.html

Malvales/Malvaceae:
http://www.malvaceae.info
http://www.malvaceae.info/Directory/web.html#Floras

Plant blindness:
http://www.botany.org/bsa/psb/2002/psb48-3.html#Plant

Tree ID:
http://www.realtimerendering.com/trees/trees.html
idem for wildflowers:
http://www.realtimerendering.com/flowers/flowers.html

Fossil Algae:
http://www.ku.edu/~ifaa/index.html

AN OVERVIEW OF MORE LINKS:
http://www.mobot.org/otherlinks.asp















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Old 21-12-2006, 07:32 PM posted to sci.bio.botany
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Posts: 109
Default ### Mini FAQ for sci.bio.botany # 088 ###

On Wed, 20 Dec 2006 12:49:16 +0100, "P. van Rijckevorsel"
wrote:

A mini "Frequently Asked Questions" for sci.bio.botany

snip

Hi PvR,

Here is a link you might want to take a look at and consider
adding to the FAQ:

http://www.helsinki.fi/~rlampine/cartogr.html

I just happened upon it awhile back while searching for
something else. It seems to cover a different area/aspect of
Botany, namely mapping stuff.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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Old 22-12-2006, 06:08 PM posted to sci.bio.botany
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Oct 2006
Posts: 75
Default ### Mini FAQ for sci.bio.botany # 088 ###

That certainly is a very extensive site. Thank you for pointing it out!
However, I am not sure about the FAQ: it contains too much technical
information already. This site is yet one more step removed from plants.
PvR

"Leon Fisk" schreef .
On Wed, 20 Dec 2006 12:49:16 +0100, "P. van Rijckevorsel"
wrote:

A mini "Frequently Asked Questions" for sci.bio.botany

snip

Hi PvR,

Here is a link you might want to take a look at and consider
adding to the FAQ:

http://www.helsinki.fi/~rlampine/cartogr.html

I just happened upon it awhile back while searching for
something else. It seems to cover a different area/aspect of
Botany, namely mapping stuff.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email




  #4   Report Post  
Old 23-12-2006, 08:34 PM posted to sci.bio.botany
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 109
Default ### Mini FAQ for sci.bio.botany # 088 ###

Hi PvR,

Personally I just scan over stuff a bit more technical than
my own abilities and glean what I can from it.

I think Botany has always had a close tie to maps. Where
something was collected is pretty important. Being able to
locate it accurately on a map available to anyone is even
better. With the advent of cheap GPS technology this has
greatly improved.

Several years ago Michigan went through the old original
land survey records from the early 1800's and then produced
a map based on them. The original survey had notes that
described the land that was being surveyed. It is freely
available in two forms, Acrobat pdf and a GIS shape file. If
you use the shape file format via GIS type software it can
be accurately overlaid on current maps. This should be
valuable to researchers trying find old bits of undisturbed
land areas or curious people like myself. The problem is
that a good many people don't seem to know that stuff like
this is available.

I like the FAQ you have chosen to publish. I just felt than
GIS style mapping has become affordable to most anyone now
and some clues as to what is available to aid the Botanist
could be helpful.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email
========================

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:08:51 +0100, "P. van Rijckevorsel"
wrote:

That certainly is a very extensive site. Thank you for pointing it out!
However, I am not sure about the FAQ: it contains too much technical
information already. This site is yet one more step removed from plants.
PvR

"Leon Fisk" schreef .
On Wed, 20 Dec 2006 12:49:16 +0100, "P. van Rijckevorsel"
wrote:

A mini "Frequently Asked Questions" for sci.bio.botany

snip

Hi PvR,

Here is a link you might want to take a look at and consider
adding to the FAQ:

http://www.helsinki.fi/~rlampine/cartogr.html

I just happened upon it awhile back while searching for
something else. It seems to cover a different area/aspect of
Botany, namely mapping stuff.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

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