[pbs] Taxonomy help

Boyce Tankersley btankers at chicagobotanic.org
Mon Nov 6 18:12:38 EST 2006


Hi Mary Sue:

Welcome to alphabet soup, taxonomy style. At Chicago Botanic Garden we
have chosen to follow the taxonomies cited by ITIS
<http://www.itis.gov>. These taxonomies reflect the recommendations of
Flora of North America and the USDA Plants database. Beyond North
America, we use a number of references - and as you have discovered they
don't always agree with each other.

My suggestion would be to identify synonyms (of the families) and
provide a link to migrate between them. The important point (in my
opinion) is that our users find the plant they are searching for - not
in promoting any one of several differing views of taxonomic
relationships.

Boyce Tankersley
Director of Living Plant Documentation
Chicago Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022
Tel: 847-835-6841
Fax: 847-835-1635
Email: btankers at chicagobotanic.org



More information about the pbs mailing list