pcplantdb

[Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>]

georg parlow wrote:

> > Also build up a database (a conceptual separation - not necessarily two
> > separate DBs) of lots and lots of plants.
> >
> > Implement logic to take a "known guild" in the DB and provide info on
>
> plants
>
> > that could be substituted into that guild.
>
>
> i feel that ph, root structure/type (few fat roots, lots a hairy roots,
> deep, shallow,..) 

Root structure sounds very good. One thing the pfaf db
does not have. Quite how to describe it I'm not sure.

At the moment I've got things arranged in sections, each section
can have a Key Words and numeric items and textual data so we might have

Section: Root Structure

Key Word: Tap Root, Hairy Roots, ...

Numeric Item: Root Depth (1m), ....

Description: This plant has hairy tap roots growing to 1m.
        The roots have often been likened to the shape of a
        rather hairy dwarf from Lord of the Rings.

Quite where we would get data on the root structure I don't
really know.

> and time of leaf-set might be cruicial points - the latter
> being a phenological information, so in order to fill that into a db-field
> all the info would need to come from the same source/region - a quite
> impossible demand, i fear.

In the pfaf DB we have three similar fields
        leaf set
        flowering time
        fruiting time
its easy for us as we just use the UK.

The way round this is to add a location for each so we might
have
        leaf set: April - UK, lowlands, Hardiness zone 7
        leaf set: May   - UK, exposed hills, Hardiness zone 6
        leaf set: September - Australia

Lots needs to be discussed as to how we would specify
the rhs.

        Rich

--
Plants for a Future: 7000 useful plants
Web:   http://www.pfaf.org/ same as http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
Post:  1 Lerryn View, Lerryn, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0QJ
Tel:     01208 872 963 / 0845 458 4719  
Email: webmaster@pfaf.org
PFAF electronic mailing list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pfaf