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permaculture - Re: creating online plant database

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  • From: EFMonaco <EFMonaco@compuserve.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: creating online plant database
  • Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 11:56:06 -0500


I'd elaborate on the "uses" and "part used" sections. Borrowing from our
"Earth Skills" friends, there are a lot of primitive or survival uses for
many plants. Some of these may well be termed "traditional" uses: like
cordage, or basketry, or good for firemaking, shelter building, bows, arrow
shafts, fishing poles. I know this can be overwhelming. Try to list the
uses of bamboo, for example.
Then there's the culinary uses including food preservation uses.
Add medicinal uses by part. Roots are good for tea steeped hot then served
cold, reported to cure what 'ails ya. Maybe just a link, such as, "used in
Chinese medicines as part of a wicked brew, raises chi."
Also, a primer on pioneers, relation to guilds, and a sense of whether it
is an ancestor to a modern cultivated variety. There's also the spiritual
properties of herbs if you want to travel to the other half of reality.
Gene Monaco
>
On Sun, 04 Nov 2001 20:53:44 -0600, mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net> wrote:

>
>Im creating a web-based database of all the plants growing at Dreamtime &
wonder if
>there are specific categories that would be most useful to others. Im a
big fan of
>the plants for a future database, but it has a lot more categories &
information than
>what I think is necessary for our project.
>
>the following categories come to mind:
>
common name(s)
>latin name
>hardiness
>uses
>part used
>how propagated
>
>
>is there anything obvious that Im leaving out?

when to harvest

moisture and drought tolerance & related siting & planting depth
requirements

pH requirement/tolerance - acid-loving/calciphobe / alkaline soil
loving

requirement for soil with stable populations of beneficial organisims
that provide nutrients for plant (i.e. some pine trees require
adequate beneficial soil fungi for sustenance to promote robust
growth)

type of soil/terrain/drainage required or preferred (moraine, scree,
sandy loam, gravelly, heavy soils, clay or silt loam, volcanic, rocky
etc.)

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