An Electronic Hortus - online information on the taxonomy of cultivated plants
CALS Impact Statement
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Overview
abstract
This project is aimed at developing an online resource for the dissemination of taxonomic information, images, and diagnostic tools for cultivated plants. As such, it affects a broad array of scientists, agriculturists, and businesses and the public. As a resource for identifying plants, it has an impact on those interested in ornamental plants, food crops, weed control, urban planning, ecology, biodiversity, and forestry. The nursery and seed business, a multibillion dollar industry in the U.S., benefits from the availability of both high-quality images and verified taxonomic names for horticulturally important plants.
Development of this project was spurred by the need for a comprehensive resource that can provide basic information and images of all of the commonly cultivated plants in the U.S. This is the legacy of the work of Liberty Hyde Bailey and his L. H. Bailey Hortorium.
response
A comprehensive website has been developed to deliver an ever-increasing array of taxonomically organized, relationally databased images, diagnostic tools, nomenclature, and other facts about both cultivated and noncultivated plants. The site now includes almost 30,000 images. The site is now accessed by more than 650 users on an average weekday, increasing to between 900-1000 per day during the spring and fall months. Google accounts for about 75 percent of the hits on the site, with more than 18,000 users accessing the site through google.com in the first six weeks of 2007 (triple the number from the same period in 2006). This indicates a much broader audience than a merely scientific or academic clientele, and undoubtedly includes amateur gardeners, nursery proprietors, farmers, and others interested in flowering plants. This high hit rate was achieved by careful design of the websites, and cross-referencing with an extensive common-names database developed from our nursery and seed catalogue collection and Hortorium publications such as Hortus Third.
impact assessment
The site is now accessed by more than 650 users on an average weekday, and 900-1000 users in the spring and fall months (winter is our slow time). Google accounts for about 75 percent of the hits on the site, with more than 18,000 users accessing the site through Google.com in the first six weeks of 2007. This indicates a much broader audience than a merely scientific or academic clientele, and undoubtedly includes amateur gardeners, nursery proprietors, farmers, and others interested in flowering plants. This high hit rate was achieved by careful design of the websites and cross-referencing with an extensive common-names database developed from our nursery and seed catalogue collection and Hortorium publications such as Hortus Third.
topic description
Horticultural Systematics
key personnel
Dennis Stevenson, New York Botanical Garden (Robin Moran, New York Botanical Garden)
