Scott's Botanical Links--January 2000

January 28, 2000 - Forestry Guide @ About.Com

About.Com is the successor to the "Mining Company," providing guides to different areas of interest that include community activities, spotlights, websites and more, depending on the expert guide. This site, ably maintained by Steve Nix, features pages(/sites) on forestry regulations, sustainability, fire behavior, why to clearcut, tree pests, public forests, trees of the United States, forest cover types, SAF-accredited forestry schools, and a forest survey quiz. Weblinks to over 25 topics are provided from the home page, and more within. Quite a bit of thought has gone into the content of this site, containing numerous good sites on forestry. (****) -SR

January 27, 2000 - CSU Guide to Poisonous Plants

The Poisonous Plant Guide is a principally veterinary database to commonly encounted poisonous plants. Common names can be browsed, while botanical names or symptoms of poisoning can be readily searched. The site is accompanied by a 25-item glossary and a more lengthy list of definitions. The information about each plant is illustrated and detailed. This site is worth a bookmark on general principle. Site by Dr. A. P. Knight, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University. (****) -SR

January 26, 2000 - Fun Facts about Fungi

The fun facts on this site include a wide variety of interesting and well-presented topics, ranging from "Penicillin: Moldy Miracle," earth stars, fairy rings, fungal shotguns and ant gardens, to fungal infection-caused endocarditis. Experiments, puzzles and games on fungi are also engaging. Although I usually do not feature children's sites, this is a nice example of a successful higher education outreach program. Site by Dr. Robert Fogel, Curator of Fungi, University of Michigan Herbarium, with partial support by the University of Michigan Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. (****) -SR

January 25, 2000 - Willi Hennig Society

Willi Hennig was a major innovator in the development of cladistics--a method of interpreting systematic data using computational analysis. This site is host to the journal, "Cladistics: The International Journal of the Willi Hennig Society", a literature database of nearly 3400 records, a reviewed software site for cladistic analysis software, and information about the Society and Society-sponsored meetings. There are links to other sites about cladistics as well. Site by Mark E. Siddall, but it looks like they are seeking a new webmaster. (***1/2) -SR

January 24, 2000 - Mycology Labs at the University of Tennessee

Dr. Ronald H. Petersen and Dr. Karen W. Hughes share this lab site on mycology research, which includes a variety of useful resources. The botanical nomenclature tutorial is a very complete introduction with detailed discussion of the rules, a glossary of "-onyms", exercises and the international politics of nomenclature. Also worth looking at are the color concordance (of Methuen and Ridgway), molecular techniques protocols for field work on fungi, and morphotaxonomy. The Pleurotus systematics site is worth a mention also, as are the photo gallery and links to other sites (though some are stale). This is a mycology site to bookmark for a variety of reasons! (****) -SR

January 21, 2000 - Gymnosperm Database

Each listing (family, genus and species) includes: scientific name, common name, taxonomic notes, plant description, range, biggest tree, oldest tree, dendrochronology, ethnobotany, remarks, citations and links to images at other sites. Maps, forest and habit photos are available for the more major taxa. The images are medium size (400 pixels wide) without much image processing (which might have improved them). This is an excellent taxonomic reference site with lots of data! Site by Christopher J. Earle. (****) -SR

January 20, 2000 - Evolution of land plants in the Ordovician through Middle Devonian periods

With Encyclopedia Britannica available online as a free web site, the depth of information available on seemingly obscure topics has been greatly enhanced. This site outlines the origin of land plants, with an emphasis on the vascular plants. Well-written and authoritative, this is an interesting and effectively well hyperlinked article....the best one I could find on the web on this topic. There are also links to print or email the site to a friend. Site by Encyclopedia Brittanica. (****) -SR

January 19, 2000 - El Desierto Florido

The "Desierto Florido" (Flowering desert) in northern Chile between the cities of La Serena and Copiapó displayed a remarkable floral show after the "El Niño" rainfalls of September 1997. Located in the Atacama desert on the western coast of South America, this is among the driest places in the world, where rain may come once in a year, five years or 30 years. Although currently only about 20 images are shown, the images still make this a beautiful site to visit. Hosted by Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). (***1/2)-SR

January 18, 2000 - Rochester Gardening

Rochester Gardening has information for the Northeastern USA gardener, plus access to plant & garden information worldwide. The site includes a spotlight, events calendar, garden to-do list, a Q & A site, weather, societies list, bulb site and a searchable portal to over 2,200 categorized web links. The web links are indexed by topic or can be browsed directly from the 35 pages where the links are stored. The web links and bulb site are the most impressive features of this site by Duane Reid. (****)-SR

January 17, 2000 - Racist Relics: An Ugly Blight On Our Botanical Nomenclature

As this is Martin Luther King Day, recalling this article from the Scientist, seems particularly important. In this article, Melvin Hunter addresses the need to abandon racist names of plants is an unpleasant reminder of prejudice and bigotry. Although most of these common names are rarely heard, we as plant biologists should take responsibility for making them extinct. From Vol 5, #23, November 25, 1991, Copyright © The Scientist, Inc. (****)-SR

January 14, 2000 - Virtual Cotton Anatomy Home Page

The virtual cotton anatomy site presents a richly illustrated view of the roots, stems, flowers and leaves of this plant in photographs, drawings and micrographs. As with other entries in the Virtual Crops® project, This site presents all major aspects of the life history of this important plant. Constructed by undergraduate students in Dr. Tom Rost's PLB105: Developmental Plant Anatomy (1998-99) at the University of California-Davis. (****)SR

January 13, 2000 - Virtual Rice Anatomy Home Page

The virtual rice anatomy site presents the organization of the rice plant in richly illustrated detail. Pages of photographs, drawings and micrographs on roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits are accompanied by text. An outline of topics makes navigating the site easy. Little errors creep in at the site (pictures not loading, incomplete links), but the site is still an inspiration for a class project. Part of the Virtual Crops® project constructed by undergraduate students enrolled in Dr. Tom Rost's PLB105: Developmental Plant Anatomy (1997-98), University of California-Davis. (****)SR

January 12, 2000 - BoDD - the Botanical Dermatology Database

This site features a family-by-family description of plants and the key chemicals that they produce. Access to the site is provided by an index to the families (which is quite complete) and a search engine. The search quickly produces lists of pages with potentially relevant material. The pages are indexed by their file name (based on an abbreviation of the first four letters). The value of this site is its encyclopedic nature! Site by Richard J. Schmidt PhD, Cardiff University, UK. (****) -SR

January 11, 2000 - The Isoëtes page

These pages specialize on the "quillwort"--an advanced member of a primitive phylum, the Lycophyta, presenting pages on anatomy, morphology, systematics, natural history, and karyoloogy. This site is brief, but has some nice original illustrations. The site, presented in Italian and English, emphasizes the species of Sicily. This is a nice introduction to this genus. Site by Angelo and Antonella Troìa, Universita' degli Studi di Palermo. (***) -SR

January 10, 2000 - Noble Foundation Plant Image Site

With goals of assisting botanists, ecologists, and natural resource managers with the identification of plants, this site emphasizes the prairie grassland flora. Featuring lists of forbs, grasses and woody species, there are indices to common and scientific names, families and a search engine. The images are high-quality medium-format pictures (often with more than one per species) accompanied by information on plant habits and habitat. Very useful for seeing prairie plants in their many conditions during the year. Site by the Noble Foundation, Ardmore, Oklahoma. (****) -SR

Past, past links (by date):

2006: January

2005: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2003: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2002: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2001: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2000: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

1999: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

1998: January*, February*, March*, April*, May*, June*, July, August, September, October, November, December   (*Leigh's links)

1997: January, February, March, April, May, June, September*, October*, November*, December*    (*Leigh's links)

1996: February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Or search by: Subject Index

http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/bot-linx/jan00.shtml