pcplantdb

[Richard Morris <webmaster@pfaf.org>]

Q2: what criteria do we want to record for plants.

Botanical names and authors

Synonyms and authors

Common names
        Posibly Language, and Locale for names

Brief description of plant
        1 paragraph summary of plant

Photos of plant

Botanical clasification
        Rank: i.e. Cultivar, Species, Genus, Family
        Parent: For species and genus - which family they are part of
        Clasification scheme used:
                Different schemes, such as conquist put plants in       
                different families.

Hazards
        Hazards to humans
                Toxicity
        Hazards to environment
                Invasive plants
                        Locales where plants are invasive
        Diseases
                What diseases they may be carries of.
                        For example sale of hawthorns is restricted in  
                        this country as they can spread diseases.

Native range or Native Locales
        locales where plants grow natively

Cultivated range or Native Locales
        locales where plants can be cultivated

Native habitats
        Habitats where plants grow natively

Cultivated habitats
        Habitats where plants can be cultivated (e.g. woodland garden)

Plant Characteristics - physical stuff about the plant

        Habit - tree, shrub, annual ,bienial etc.

        Max Height - may want to include a locale
                - might actually be a range

        Height after 1, 5, 10 years?

        Same for width.

        Age range - annual, biannial, perennial (max age)

        Growth rate - how fast it grows

Botanical charteristics and identification

        Type of flower -
                hermaphrodite (the flower has both male and female      
                organs).

                monoecious (individual flowers are either male or
                female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant).

                dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female,
                but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both
                male and female plants must be grown if seed is         
                required)

        Type of polination -
                wind, insects (specific types), self fertile

        Flower identification -
                lots of botanical stuff about how to indetify a plant by
                its flowers. Superiour overies. Closely linked to
                Botanical clasification.

        Type of fruit/seed

        Seed dispersal - method

        Fruit/seed identification

        Leaf type/shape

        Times -
                When in leaf
                When in flower
                When in fruit
                Number of fruiting seasons per year
                Time until first fruiting

                All the above need to be cross referenced with locales
                at very least Nothern/Southern hemisphere or tropics.

Cultivation Information

        Temprature
                Hardyness - which UDSA zones the plant grows in.

                Frost tender - whether the plant can withstand frost

                Number of days of frost plant can withstand

                Min temprature plant can withstand

                Max temprature

        Moisture
                Can it tolerate drought?

                Can it tolerate water logged soil?

        Soil
                What Ph range it can tolerate

                What Ph range it prefers

                Can it tolerate saline soil/does it require saline soil.

                Soil types it tolerates - clay, loam, etc

                Soil types it prefers

                Moisture level of soil - tolerates and prefers

        Shade
                What level of shade it tolerates/prefers

        Other characteristics
                A bit open ended allowing for other things like

                Tolerate atmospheric polution
                Tolerates grazing by dear
                Resistant to grazing by dear
                Tolerate mowing

        Other cultivation info
                Free text info on cultivation

Propagation
        Time to sow
        Time to plant out
        Stratification of seeds

Pests and diseases
        Vunerable to which pest/diseases
        Resitance to particualar pest diseases

Benifical relationships
        What animals it attracts
        What animals if is a food plant of
        What animals it is a habitat of
        What plants is is know to grow well with
        What plant guilds it is a member of

Use by man
        Ethnobotanical information
                Traditional uses of plants by diferent societies

Edible Uses
        Parts of Plant you can eat - keyword
        Culinary uses - keyword
        Rating of edible use

        Nutritional information
        Yield information

Medicinal Uses
        Keywords
        Rating
        text description

Other Uses
        key words
        Rating
        text description
        
History and Folklaw
        Information about curtural aspects
        Famous trees inc locale

Growing experiences
        A place for people to record experiences people have had with   
        growing the plant.

Links and references
        Links to other websites
        References to books

Supliers
        Places you can get the plants/seeds

---------
So there you go.

Comments, additions welcome. At this stage I think we should keep it 
just what criteria we wish to record and not get involved in
the how we record it.

Best

Rich