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" or "DAGS").

Since this is a slow NG (in numbers of postings per week) great tolerance
has been observed when dealing with some fringe figures, who post
anonimously. Over time it has become clear that logic and reason do not help
in dealing with them.

Fortunately this NG is not being hit by 'real trolls': the worst offender
being "Cereus-validus " (FWIW "Cereus validus"
is Latin for "The Mighty Wax-Candle" which, as self-descriptions go, is
fairly accurate). Things have been getting worse of late things and putting
this address (or whatever address he changes to) into the killfile will
ensure missing out on a lot of garbage. In addition, putting anybody who
cross-posts (to three or more groups) in the killfile will also be helpful
(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 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?

GRIN at http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxecon.pl
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.

ING at http://ravenel.si.edu/botany/ing/ingForm.cfm
(genus names only)

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, now in its second edition (1997, 2002), also
uses a version of Cronquist, but the third edition will use APG II.

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/
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/

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.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

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



AN OVERVIEW OF MORE LINKS:
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/otherwww.html

Thank you for the FAQ, it did influence the way I posted my last message.

I would have appreciated a comment on where one can post images to satisfy
the "Can someone ID" questions you identify as Faq. I didn't post images
with my message since no-one else had done so, but many people may not be as
alert.

I'm glad you indicated "engage in crossposting will hardly ever" since I did
consider cross posting to a binaries group where the images would raise the
standard from the "watching paint dry" (I'm not kidding) images that are the
overwhelming majority.

It's good for newbies to know where we stand, and if you regularly put this
out then that is a good practice.

Kind regards

John.


"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote in message
...
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" or "DAGS").

Since this is a slow NG (in numbers of postings per week) great tolerance
has been observed when dealing with some fringe figures, who post
anonimously. Over time it has become clear that logic and reason do not
help
in dealing with them.

Fortunately this NG is not being hit by 'real trolls': the worst offender
being "Cereus-validus " (FWIW "Cereus
validus"
is Latin for "The Mighty Wax-Candle" which, as self-descriptions go, is
fairly accurate). Things have been getting worse of late things and
putting
this address (or whatever address he changes to) into the killfile will
ensure missing out on a lot of garbage. In addition, putting anybody who
cross-posts (to three or more groups) in the killfile will also be helpful
(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 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?

GRIN at http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxecon.pl
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.

ING at http://ravenel.si.edu/botany/ing/ingForm.cfm
(genus names only)

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, now in its second edition (1997, 2002), also
uses a version of Cronquist, but the third edition will use APG II.

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/
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/

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.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

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



AN OVERVIEW OF MORE LINKS:
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/otherwww.html