Permaculture Information Web

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

More feedback on suggestions for information we would like to record. 
(within text below)

Richard Morris wrote:

> Q2: what criteria do we want to record for plants.
>
> Botanical names and authors, Synonyms and authors 

Definitely the botanical names / synomyms, thre can be many for some 
plants, plus they keep changing as reserach into the genetic origin of 
plants progresses. Authors - I don't know - not something that's of the 
slightest importance to me.

I also like to see an explanation of the botanical name - what the name 
means. (obviously need plain text entry for this)

> Common names
>     Possibly Language, and Locale for names

For sure, and once again an explanation of what the names mean.  So much 
neat folklore, and also often a reflection of the medicinal or 
ecological importance of the plant. (plain text entry)

> Brief description of plant
>     1 paragraph summary of plant

Personally I don't see how one can summarize something in a paragraph 
that takes several pages to properly describe.  Have never been a fan of 
executive summaries - don't see the point.  In fact it's always someone 
else's point, these summaries acan only be written with a specific 
agenda in mind / subjective perspective.  I'd rather spend more energy 
on proper description.

> Photos of plant

Absolutely, lots and lots, preferably in the field where those specific 
features are described.

> 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.

We already covered botanical names above, so family (ies) certainly is 
important.  See no need to go beyond that into order, classes, etc.

> Hazards
>     Hazards to humans
>         Toxicity

What might be a chemical hazard under some circumstances would be 
medicine under others.
Physiological hazards (plant defenses?) might be useful to humans as 
well . these are important features, and we might want to label them 
something else.

>     Hazards to environment
>         Invasive plants
>             Locales where plants are invasive

Would also like to know what it is about the environment / plant 
relationship that allows it to become so invase.  For some plants we 
know, for others we don't.  Elaine Ingham describes how changing the 
soil biology changes the flora / fauna above ground. It's more complext 
than simply putting that plant in a conceptual box.

>     Diseases
>         What diseases they may be carries of.
>             For example sale of hawthorns is restricted in    
>             this country as they can spread diseases.

Talked about this earlier and would like to refer to plant predators 
instead, and yes they would be different in different locales.

> Native range or Native Locales
>     locales where plants grow natively

Yes

> Cultivated range
>     locales where plants can be cultivated

Yes - not all plants can be grown everywhere successfully.

> Native habitats
>     Habitats where plants grow natively

Absolutely essential to know as much as possible about these habitats.  
To the point where it would be useful to have a database of these 
habitats so one can simply refer to one.

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

That would be different depending on the locale / climate.

> Plant Characteristics - physical stuff about the plant
>
>     Habit - tree, shrub, annual ,bienial etc.

yesd

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

Range makes more sense, is very locale dependent

>     Height after 1, 5, 10 years? 

I never found this very meaningful, depends on locale, culture

>     Same for width.

Okay

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

Sure

>     Growth rate - how fast it grows

Once again somewhat meaningless unless compared to a standard.  But 
different depending on soil environment, water availability, temperature....

> Botanical charteristics and identification
>
>     Type of flower -
>            hermaphrodite (the flower has both male and female    
>         organs).

Sure

>         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)

Sure

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

Definitely, and the types of insects required / preferred for pollination

>     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

Sure, all cool stuff, needs lots of pictures

>     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.

Yes

> 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

That depends, of course, on what time of year the frost occurs (has 
plant already hardened off / come out of hibernation?)

>     Moisture
>         Can it tolerate drought?

Drought at what time of its life cycle

>         Can it tolerate water logged soil?

At what time of its life cycle

>     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

Definitely

>     Shade
>         What level of shade it tolerates/prefers

Definitely - also locale / climate dependent

>     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

Great

> Propagation
>     Time to sow
>     Time to plant out
>     Stratification of seeds

Propagation methods other than seeds - also their timing, any special 
considerations. Temperatures, light requirements, length of seed 
viability, etc.etc. Could be lots of great stuff in this section.

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

Back to my dissertation on predators.

> 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

Really , really important.  This includes socalled pests and diseases

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

Back to hazards etc. There is no black and white.  Lots of information 
available on this.

> Edible Uses
>     Parts of Plant you can eat - keyword
>     Culinary uses - keyword
>     Rating of edible use
>
>     Nutritional information
>     Yield information

Great stuff.  Recipes??

> Medicinal Uses
>     Keywords
>     Rating
>     text description

Ethnobotany, hazards etc.  Same sort of range of information.  Have no 
idea what you mean by ratings.

> Other Uses
>     key words
>     Rating
>     text description

Sure

>     
> History and Folklaw
>     Information about curtural aspects
>     Famous trees inc locale

Great stuff, often very useful in understanding plants / ecosystems

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

Extremely useful

> Links and references
>     Links to other websites
>     References to books

Totally

> Supliers
>     Places you can get the plants/seeds

Wouldn't bother, this information is outdated in no time at all, unless 
we are talking about gene banks etc.

> ---------
> 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.

This really has been a very comprehensive list.  Now we just need to 
figure out how best to organize the information so it's meaningful for 
the persons
   - entering the info
   - searching the info

Chers, Heide