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pcplantdb - Re: [pcplantdb] common names + treeness revisted

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [pcplantdb] common names + treeness revisted
  • Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 15:25:37 -0700

Stephanie Gerson wrote:

"Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net> wrote:

I can see how comon names may be of secondary importance
but still very important to have in the database. When doing a search enter
biome/geographic location/climatic zone/bioregion plus common name of
the plant to find out what it is and looks like in different areas around the
globe.

This is great, Lawrence - you can enter where you are in the hg, and it can
search accordingly. So if you search for ironwood in NC and then you want to
see what it looks like in Greece (I have no idea if ironwood grows there), it
won't return another plant that's called ironwood in Greece but that isn't the
plant you were referring to. Ok I think I just made (er, reiterated) a
completely obvious point.

This reminde me that a vital component of this is to make sure that for every
plant with specific taxonomic description that exists in the DB there are
common names for it in every language we need to represent. A data entry
field for
common name should provide a way for each name to be translated.

As for treeness, height seems to be the primary criteria for definition as
such
in that it may be the one single attribute that separates shrub from tree. It
still gets
fuzzy as with fig tree/bush, holly tree/bush, osmanthus fragrans: tree or
shrub?

LL
--
L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech




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