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

This is an unmonitored ("feral") NG that is irregular in all other respects
as well, foremost in the frequency of postings. The topic is botany, in all
its aspects, but excluding topics covered in other newsgroups, such as
gardening, cooking with plants, education about plants, etc.

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

But questions are posed in a very wide range of topics ("Is there such a
thing as a walking palm?", "I am stuck in my lab procedure for a ADP-Glucose
Pyrophosphorylase Assay, please help!", "What is the Classic Greek word for
birch?", etc). Some people think this NG knows everything there is to know
about plants! For an in-depth impression see the archives at
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
Many questions of a general nature can be answered by consulting the
archives or just a search engine (a frequent question is "I have this school
project. Can someone write my paper for me?" with the standard response:
"try Google").

Since this is a slow NG (in numbers of postings per week) great tolerance is
observed when dealing with some fringe figures, who post anonimously. Their
tag will become apparent quickly to even the most casual of observers.
Responding to them is done at one's own risk. Logic does not help.

Fortunately this NG is not being hit by 'real trolls', only minor pests. By
putting anybody who cross-posts (to three or more groups) in a killfile what
trolling there is disappears quickly and without ill effects (something that
is crossposted will hardly ever be worth reading, and those who engage in
crossposting will hardly ever have something worthwhile to contribute).

GLOSSARY & WEBDIRECTORY:

BOTANICAL NAMES:
Plantfinder at http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/
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.

A lively-looking site with a database of cultivated plants is at:
http://plantsdatabase.com/
This also offers pictures. How are standards?

GRIN at http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/tax/taxecon.html
Well-kept database of economically important plants.

TROPICOS (or W3TROPICOS) at
http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/vast.html
This is a list of current names 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.

IPNI at www.ipni.org, www.uk.ipni.org or www.us.ipni.org
Basically this is a list of all scientific names of vascular plants ever
published, in the form they were published. It is not complete (names below
the rank of species were indexed in only one of the component indexes, until
recently) and the names listed are not necessarily spelled correctly by
today's standards.

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.
A brief overview of the APG system can be found at
http://www.systbot.uu.se/classification/summary98.html
The APG itself has an extensive website 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). 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, also uses a version of Cronquist, but the next
edition (2006?) will use APG.

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

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


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

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

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/

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

Some popular tropical trees:
http://www.zoneten.com/FloweringTrees.htm

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

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

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

Canadian alien invaders:
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.meden.demon.co.uk/Malvace...ory.html#Flora

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

Tree ID:
http://www.realtimerendering.com/trees/trees.html

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

Excellent set of links, I'll slowly work my way through them tonight