Re: Hortus Third

Well, Dean, for exactly the reasons that Nan points out.  That
doesn't mean that I don't refer to mine.  However, more and more I
find it doesn't even list the plant I'm trying to find out about.

You are correct that a published revision doesn't mean instant change
and that change can and does take years and sometimes gets reversed
in that process.  However, when you go searching for plant
information, if you don't know what the latest accepted name is, you
often can't find what you're looking for.  The recent Tovara thread
is a good case in point.  'Tovara' got a mere handful of hits while
'Polygonum' and even 'Persicaria' came up with numerous ones......

I've got stacks of ref. books on the floor and about every available
surface by my computer, but more and more I find myself ending up
searching the various online databases for taxonomy.  They don't
always agree, but if you persist, you can usually discover whether
the plant name you are looking for is valid, currently accepted, a
synonym or an imaginative designation from some creative nursery
person or author.

For quick look-ups, RHS plantfinder, which is now online at :

http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder.asp

 is invaluable as they list many cultivars, which most of the
nomenclature databases don't since they concentrate on family, genus
and species.

I also have a dog-eared 1998-99 copy that I use a lot to check
spelling before I type as I can't spell my own name most of the time.

GRIN http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/tax/taxfam.html is good for lists
of the species within a genus, including synonyms and will also link
you to :

USDA http://www.usda.gov/ (which is not the easiest database to use,
IMO, but has its uses) and
ARS http://www.ars.usda.gov/ (agriculture)

RBG Kew has several databases
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/data/index.html
 of which  Vascular Plant Families and Genera  and International
Plant Names Index (IPNI) are the ones I look at most

W3TROPICOS http://mobot.mobot.org/Pick/Search/pick.html is also a
good source for verifying names on the genus and species level

Index Nominum Genericorum (ING) http://www.nmnh.si.edu/ing/ is
another database I sometimes find useful

Flora Europaea from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

http://www.rbge.org.uk/forms/fe.html

is a great database for plants originating in Europe, with lists of
all the countries to which a particular species is endemic.

There are quite a few other resources online - I have over 120
bookmarked under 'botany info' in the section for looking up plants
alone, but the above list are the ones I use most.  Flora of China is
also useful, as are other online floras for various countries and
even parts of countries, if you're trying to figure out where a plant
is endemic.  So much info. and so time-consuming to ferret out:-)

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Dean Sliger <deanslgr@juno.com>
> Date: Thursday, July 20, 2000 10:03 PM
> 
> Don --
> 
> No, Hortus Fourth hasn't yet been produced.  I heard some rumors a
while
> back that the Bailey Hortorium was working on a new one but haven't
heard
> anything since.  I wouldn't be surprised if, like many of the
> encyclopaedias these days, Hortus Fourth ends up being on-line. 
> Personally, I still prefer to sit in an easy chair with a real book
> rather than stare at a monitor (which I already do eight hours
every day
> at work), but there are some obvious advantages to an on-line
reference.
> 
> Marge, from where do you get this notion that Hortus Third is out
of
> date?  It's not the most current reference available, but "out of
date?" 
> Not in the least.   Some of the more current references are too
eager to
> follow popular trends rather than proper systematics (just because
> someone publishes a revision doesn't make it gospel.  It still has
to go
> through the scrutiny of the peer review process which sometimes
lasts for
> years).  Most of the botanists I know still use Gray's Manual of
Botany
> (circa 1900) as their primary reference source.
> 
> Dean Sliger
> Warren, Michigan, USA
> Zone 6B

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