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  • From: Heide Hermary <heide.hermary AT gaiacollege.ca>
  • To: Permaculture Information Web <piw AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [piw] Re: Information I would like to see ... was Teething problems?
  • Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 08:49:54 -0800

Robyn, I'm sure you are right about genetic predispositions within plant families, possibly similar to genetic similarities in animal families. But I don't think we have enough research about this to start a whole new taxonomic system. Nor do I think that is particular necessary at this time, in fact it could lead to inappropriate assumptions and render the information useless.
I would love to see an accumulation of all the knowledge we currently have about these plants, including and especially the relationships they form with other organisms. The latter is possibly the most important one from an ecological perspective, but the information is extremely difficult to find. I truly think the rest will sort itself out - including possibly over time a more useful taxonomy (or several).

Then really what remains to be decided is
- what criteria we want to report
- how we want to label them
- how we want to report them (plain text etc.)
- how we want to search them

This database will evolve over time, I don't think we can conceive all the possibilities at this time. I suggest to start with something reasonable and then go with the flow.

I know such an open-ended database can cause trememnus technolgical challenges...

Cheers, Heide

Robyn Williamson wrote:


Too true, Heidi, a perfect example is botanical taxonomy which was established in 1753 and is now meaningless to most people. I do tend to find however that plant properties are often linked to a family grouping, for example pyrethrins found in the oil glands of certain flowers in the Asteraceae/Compositae family or nitrogen fixation in the case of legumes. In any case, I'm happy to do separate searches for the family groupings and leave botany and the PIW database to the respective professionals. Thanks for the feedback.

With best regards,
Robyn

CONTACT DETAILS:

Robyn Williamson
PDC, Urban Horticulturist
Hon Sec, Fagan Park Community Eco Garden Committee
Local Seed Network Coordinator
NORTH WESTERN SYDNEY COMMUNITY SEED SAVERS
mobile: 0409 151 435
ph/fx: (612) 9629 3560
email: rz.williamson AT optusnet.com.au
http://www.communityfoods.com.au
http://www.au.gardenweb.com/directory/fpceg
http://www.seedsavers.net
http://www.sydney.foe.org.au/water

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