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Re: using botanical and common names

Pat and all:

I've found two web resources for botanical/common name lookup.  For a quick
search, the first is probably the most useful.  

National Gardening Associations Horticultural Dictionary. Look up more than
15,000 gardening terms.  If you plug in a common name (I used columbine)
and the term is in the dictionary, it will give you back the botanical name
and some information.  URL is:

http://www2.garden.org/nga/edit/hortdict.html

Andrew N. Gagg's Photo Flora page lists a *lot* of plants in Latin-English,
unfortunately you just have to scroll to find what you are looking for.  
URL is:

http://www.gagg.mcmail.com/flora.htm#A

In addition, Gardening.com's plant encyclopedia will search using either
the common name or botanical name and may be helpful.  The database doesn't
include every plant in the world, but I can generally find something when
I'm looking.  Plus, if it's in the database, you'll also get a nice photo
and some information.  URL is:

http://gardening.com/Encyclopedia/cgi-bin/Default.asp

Flowerbase is another site providing search capabilities in both common and
botanical names.  To use the "common" name, select 'English', 'German',
'Spanish', 'Dutch', 'French' or 'Italian' Names.  If the name you're
looking up is in their database, you'll get the botanical name associated
with a thumbnail photo you can click for a larger version with all the
botanical names in the various languages.  URL is:

http://www.flowerbase.com/

So far, I have not found a site that only provides a comprehensive list of
plants with the common and botanical names listed.  The one that comes
closest is Plant America's Plant Link, which is linked to Metacrawler for
web searches.  If you click on one of the letters in the alphabet under
'Search by Common Name', you will get a drop down box with a large list of
plants starting with that letter.  If you select one and hit 'search', you
will get a page with that plant, giving its botanical name and giving you
the ability to click on the name for a web search for information about it.
 You probably won't find all the names in common use, but it's a start :-) 
The URL is:  

http://www.plantamerica.com/palink.htm

Tom Clothier's weed list includes many commonly grown garden plants that
can become weedy.  Plants are listed with botanical name first (linked to a
photo if there is one) and then a list of every common name he could find
for that plant - well worth a look, even if you're not specifically looking
for "weeds".  The URL to his homepage is:

http://www.anet-chi.com/~manytimes/

Select Resources & References from the index at the top and when you get to
that page, select "Weeds Cross Referenced and Linked to Photos".

I haven't found a FAQ on common/botanical names - doesn't mean there's not
one out there, tho'.

Hope this lot will get you started :-)

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
current article:  Planting Under Trees - Part 3
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----------
> From: Pat <pdanielak@skipjack.bluecrab.org>
> Date: Friday, July 17, 1998 1:17 PM
> 
> I used to live in a large metropolitan area with "real" growers and lots
of
> gardeners in the area. Where would I go to look up some of these names
now?
> I can't run to the public library every day. Does this list have a FAQ
where
> newbies can go to get some basic information without boring the
"old-timers"
> with the same old questions? Or is there a good reference site on the
> internet?
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