pcplantdb

[Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>]

Heide Hermary wrote:

> Hi all,
> As part of our Certificate program in Organic Landscape Management we 
> (Gaia College) developed an interactive plant database for our 
> students.  As one of their assignments our students are required to 
> thoroughly research 5 plants according to the following criteria, and 
> enter the information in the database:
> NOMENCLATURE: Botanical Name(s), Common Name(s), Family
> DESCRIPTION: Type (woody or herbaceous perennial, annual, etc.), Size, 
> Rate of Growth, Form, Trunk or Stem, Buds, Foliage, Flowers, Fruit. 
> CULTIVARS
> PROPAGATION METHOD(S)
> NATIVE HABITAT
> TOLERANCE TO CULTURAL CONDITIONS
> RELATIONSHIPS (synergistic / antagonistic) - this includes companion 
> plants, pollinators, animal and microbial predators (so-called pests and 
> diseases) - and yes, some can be both antagonistic and synergistic at 
> the same time.
> VALUABE ATTRIBUTES (food, fiber, medicine, etc.)
> REFERENCES
>
> Students are required to upload lots of pictures and create links to 
> on-line reference material, but they are also required to describe the 
> plants (in plain text) for search purposes.
>
> The goal was to eventually make our database available to the public - 
> once we had it "perfected". I can see from the discussions that this 
> planned database will surpass anything we could achieve with our limited 
> technological capabilities and funds. I also think it would be desirable 
> to cooperate and pool our energies on this venture for everybody's benefit.
>
> If your database can accommodate our needs for identification features 
> (including searches) I would switch our students - and the information 
> we have collecged so far - over as soon as you are ready.
>
> Do you think this would be possible?
>
> Cheers, Heide Hermary
> Gaia College
> http://www.gaiacollege.ca

I say go for it. Just the sort of thing we need.

It does open up some interesting technical Q's, on how to merge two 
databases. I suspect this is the sort of thing we will have to deal with 
in the future, so now would be a great time to explore the problems of 
integrations.

Rich