pcplantdb

[Stephanie Gerson <sgerson@stanfordalumni.org>]

"John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net> wrote:

If we intend to provide anything more useful than what already exists, we
need to keep noticing these sorts of patterns, e.g. that arbitrary
separations (such as botanical plant classifications) may not be very
relevant to the guts of what we are doing.

Which is why I suggested categorizing according to function, which will *not*
be arbitrary for the purposes of hg.  

So I am taking a horticulture class right now, and I started discussing this
topic last night with a fellow student.  He told me (to my surprise actually)
that a tree isn't defined by woody secondary growth (as I had thought) - but
is merely defined by height.  Simple as that.  And there is a scale: plant -->
shrub --> tree (with more in between, can't recall at the moment).  

Meaning, treeness is based on height in the plant's (not to confuse here,
referring to the plant kingdom) native habitat under "natural" conditions. 
Although there are trees grow shorter than the baseline for treeness due to
human manipulation (bonsai, dwarf fruit trees) or plants that grow as tall as
a tree for the same reason (some crops?), then, treeness is tied to height.

hmmm
*s


> So in conclusion the best answer might be that the concept of a tree is
> a really complicated thing it means
>       perennial
>       woody
>       branches higher up
>       inhabits a particular ecological niche (keep leaves high up).

It may be complicated in terms of creating an abstraction.

It's not complicated at all to a human being - point to a plant and ask
"is that a tree?" and most everyone will be able to answer "yes" or "no"
without even consciously thinking about it.



John Schinnerer - MA, Whole Systems Design
------------------------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Whole Systems Design Services
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net


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+++++++++++++++
Stephanie Gerson
sgerson@stanfordalumni.org
(c) 415.871.5683


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