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How to Use this Page
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Purpose
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This page allows a user to find out the status
of a particular plant name according to several nomenclature authorities.
It should answer the question:
Is this name current, or has it become a synonym
(past name which has been changed)?
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Fields
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taxon |
Enter a complete name or a partially specified name using %
as a wildcard character. You may enter % more than once.
The field is case-sensitive, as genus names are capitalized.
Names of Hybrid Species:
Binomial names of hybrid species are properly rendered with an
× (ascii 215, the multiplication sign)
before the specific epithet.
For instance,
Because
× (ascii 215)
is difficult to type, Calflora stores
these names with an uppcase X instead.
To search for such a name,
type an uppercase X directly before the specific epithet:
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reference |
Calflora follows four nomenclature authorities
for wild plants in California:
- The 1993 Jepson Manual
(JM93)
and subsequent work
at the Index of California Plant Names
(ICPN).
- USDA PLANTS.
- The CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants.
This is a list of about 2100 rare plants. It does not include
synonyms, but recognizes as current certain names which
the other authorities do not.
- XWALK,
Fred Hrusa's California Plant Synonymy as
contributed to Calflora and adapted for database use by Calflora staff.
This resource is the best
way to resolve pre-1993 names with names treated in
JM93.
Altogether there are more than 31,000 records of
current and past scientific names from the four authorities.
Contradictory Interpretations.
ICPN and PLANTS endeavor to cover the entire spectrum of wild plants,
including both synonyms and current names.
While these two do agree on most names,
there are cases in which they present contradictory interpretations.
For instance, in ICPN, Berberis aquifolium is a current name
and Mahonia aquifolium is a synonym of it. In PLANTS,
Mahonia aquifolium is a current name and
Berberis aquifolium is a synonym of it.
Choosing a Reference Authority:
Choose a reference authority from the drop down list.
If you choose a single authority, the search will only
consider records from that source.
Choosing a Package:
Several reference packages are also available.
If you choose a package, the search will consider records
from multiple sources. But, as mentioned above, the
sources may contradict one another as to what name
is current and what is a synonym.
Choose
ICPN, XWALK, and CNPS,
and if the relevant records are contradictory,
the search will
attempt to eliminate a contradiction by giving
priority first to records from CNPS, then to records from ICPN.
(This is the default value for many Calflora queries.)
Choose
PLANTS, XWALK, and CNPS, and
the search will
attempt to eliminate any contradiction by giving
priority first to records from CNPS, then to records from PLANTS.
Choose
ALL,
and the search will return records from all four sources
without attempting to resolve any contradiction.
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Results
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In the results, this page will show each name that
matches the specified name pattern.
For each name, it will show which authorities consider the
name to be current, and which authorities consider it
to be a synonym of some other name.
When a value such as
appears in the REFERENCE column, it means that
PLANTS and ICPN agree on this particular interpretation.
indicates an ICPN synonym for which there is no current name.
JM93
means that the name was treated in the 1993 Jepson Manual,
and is a link to the online Jepson Manual page.
If the entered name includes at least two words,
then this page will show all of the synonyms of the matching names (if any)
at the bottom. These are past names by which this species has been known.
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About the Expanded Plant Name Library
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Search Mechanism:
It is Calflora's policy to assimilate
new plant observation
data without changing the original scentific name.
When a user enters a scientific name in a plant observation
query, the search
uses a table
to translate the entered name into all relevant synonyms
and spelling variants,
and then searches observation data for each of those names.
In effect, the translation table
acts as an interpretation of the observation data.
A recent feature of the Plant Name Library is
to allow a user to choose how this interpretation is made.
Effect on apparent distribution:
When performing an observation query, a user
can 1. enter a scientific name and 2. choose an interpretation
(single reference or reference package)
of the observation data. The choice of reference has an effect
on the apparent distribution of various species.
The widest interpretation of distribution will be the
one with the most synonyms, and the narrowest interpretation
will be the one with the least.
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Other Queries
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To find species by their characteristics, use
the Species Query or
the Advanced Species Query.
To query the observation data
from the point of view of a particular reference,
use Search for Plant Observations
or the Advanced Observation Query.
To find species by scientific name, use the
Scientific Name Query.
The results of this query include photographs and common names
(similar to Species Query), but will show all current names
and all synonyms from several nomenclature authorities.
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