Permaculture Information Web

[Heide Hermary <heide.hermary AT gaiacollege.ca>]

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
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> mobile:  0409 151 435
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