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### 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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### 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 Remove no.spam for email |
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### 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 |
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### 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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