I try to illustrate every species. Sometimes, as here, the best available is a scan of a herbarium sheet. Ideally photos show the plant in habitat, the whole plant, its foliage, bark, reproductive structures, a seedling, and other useful imagery.
In the absence of illustrations, I may provide a link to copyrighted imagery at other sites.
Example species
This example page describes the ideal content of a complete plant description. Most species are not described in this level of detail.
At the head of each page is the plant's scientific name, the name of the author who published the name, and the year of publication. The Citations section provides a detailed reference to the publication, and usually a link to it. There is also a box that states the plant's conservation status as assessed by the IUCN. For some species, no IUCN assessment exists.
First lists the common name in English, then the common name in the predominate language(s) where the plant natively occurs, and then other common names such as are used in forestry or horticulture. Names are given in Romanized text and, for names in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Russian, are usually also given in those languages.
States the type specimen and any synonyms. States information relevant to understanding the phylogenetics of the species, which may include morphological, chemical, genetic, paleobotanical or other studies. Explains the rationale for using the given name and names other closely related species.
Describes the species. The intent is to provide a complete description that can be used for identification or research, but in most cases I am not describing the plant from personal experience and am relying on cited authorities; sometimes their descriptions are incomplete. Ideally the description includes, in this order: Whether plant is monoecious or dioecious; evergreen or deciduous; growth habit (shrub, tree, etc.); approximate maximum height and diameter attained; crown form and branch architecture; twigs (meaning first-year, and sometimes second- or third-year branches); foliage buds; leaves; pollen cones; seed cones; seeds; and other characters of interest, such as chromosome number or type of mycorrhiza.
There may be a second paragraph that emphasizes the most distinctive characters and how to tell this species from similar ones.
There may also be a paragraph describing differences seen in varieties or subspecies.
Accounts of any remarkable trees known in the species, whether very large, very tall, very old, historically important, culturally important, or otherwise noteworthy.
Describes the human relationship to the plant, starting with aboriginal uses, then recorded historical uses, then current and ongoing uses. The current uses given are first the economic ones (such as use for food or timber) and then the scientific ones (such as use in archeology or medicine).
Gives pointers on how to find a living specimen of the species. For most species this is information on how to find it in native habitat, but for some rare and endangered plants, it is best to avoid disturbing them in habitat, and I then suggest botanical gardens.
This includes information that doesn't really fit elsewhere, such as the derivation of the specific epithet or which famous botanist had an adventure while discovering the plant.
I provide citations for almost all information, except a few things that are so well and widely known that any encyclopedia article would mention them. If a citation has a reasonably reliable online source, I provide a link to it. Many of the journal articles I cite are published in very expensive journals, but most of them can be found free on the Web with a little searching.
Provides any useful off-site links that didn't make it into the Citations.
Last Modified 2023-12-16
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