May 31, 1996 - Internet Guidepost for Plant Production
The managers of this site search the Internet for agriculture, horticulture, botany and gardening resources for plant production in Japan and world wide. Although it is not as encyclopedic as the Helsinki or Regina sites, it does have unique content! Their site is divided into six categories (Generic, Economy & Trade, Botany & Cultivation, Agricultural Education, Meteorology & Ecology, Groups & Organizations) and has an effective simple search engine, and a detailed "What's New" list. Links are extensively cross-listed. This site is maintained by Takehiko Hoshi and Mio Fujikawa, Tokai University. (****)
Based on a core collection of about 350 high quality photographs (mostly 340 X 400 or so, mostly 60 to 140K) representing many families, this is principally a visual site. Each family and genus is accompanied by a description that follows traditional nomenclature for families. A nice photographic resource. One distraction: linked pages on "other information about the site" are flawed in that they have a tendency to load as text in Netscape 2! This site was created and maintained by A.Voswinkel at aart@knoware.nl. (***1/2)
There are not many fern sites on the Web, but this is one of the best. Aside from a downloadable membership form, most of the information is about ferns (not the Society), including the fossil history of ferns, their life cycle, how to grow ferns, a link to join Pteridonet (a fern listserv) and links to various other fern sites on the Web. The background graphics are fabulous for fern lovers (you need a modern browser, at least Netscape 1.1 or equivalent, to see these!). This site also offers an online spore exchange and information on how to grow them. A nice and dynamic site for ferns. (****)
This is a database link for titles of journal articles and books, giving you a gateway to the scientific and scholarly literature. CARL (Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries) provides several different databases that cover much of the world literature, including international refereed scientific journals. Requests are free for journal titles; if you subscribe, you can also order the full article--if you pay enough, you can get it as soon as an hour after the request is made. Although this does not cover all of the papers in a given year (I was able to find about a third of my major publications in the last five years), the coverage was reasonable. The search strategy is simple and you are free to choose different libraries and databases to search. A nice resource, but don't get lulled into thinking that it will replace a good research library! (***1/2)
May 27, 1996 - Memorial Day
Sorry, in the U.S., this is a holiday and I am taking the day off! (****)
A nice site, currently with 13 carefully selected representative genera with hypertext links for: an introduction for each genus, description of appearance, ultrastructure, life history, similar genera, classification (somewhat dated), taxonomic and nomenclatural problems, cultures, selected references, and related Internet resources. Also has links to other usefulprotist databases. Distribution for noncommercial purposes is permitted if copyright and acknowledgement is included. The Protist Image Database is part of the Molecular Evolution and Organelle Genomics program at the University of Montreal run by Charles J. O'Kelly and Tim Littlejohn. (***1/2 [hopefully will be expanded!])
If you ever wanted a Web resource to learn the etymology of species epithet names, this is it! A definition, derivation, word stem, part of speech, gender, and meaning are given for each epithet--with the base Greek where appropriate. Intended improvements include adding a bibliography and explanations. There are more gaps after R than before (which are being filled-in). The author has crafted a well-woven Web resource; be sure to view it with a "TABLE" compatible viewer (e.g., Netscape 1.1 or newer)! The author of this site is chuckg at Winternet.com (no other address is given). (***1/2) [**** when completed] (Nominated by David Biek,Tacoma, WA)
May 22, 1996 - Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory Manual
This is an online molecular biology manual for a senester-long molecular plant biology project involved in characterizing Arabidopsis cDNA clones. Standard molecular techniques are used to analyze the clones including constructing the position of the DNA on a gene map, determining part of its sequence and comparing it to publically available sequences libraries available on the Net (pertinent links are provided to facilitate analysis). This site was constructed by Jonathan Monroe and Ivor Knight, Department of Biology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. (****)
This is designed as a semester-long investigation of plant genetics using the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. Mutants are induced, isolated, reproduced by seed and then characterized. Students construct their own experiments to analyze the mutations and to learn their significance. This site was contrstructed by Jonathan Monroe, Department of Biology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807. (****)
A general glossary for plant morphology (BOT 125) at California State University-Pomona. This covers the traditional "plants"--this includes plants, protists and cyanobacteria. This is the site of Curtis Clark at UCS-Pomona. (***1/2)
Flowers have over time acquired a symbolism of their own. This is the most complete list of flowers, by genus and their symbolism in society (presumably Eurocentrically speaking!). This is a fun, encyclopedic list assembled by Howard (replacing Sarah's 10/98, which replaced Leslie Fowler's, which can't be found, 10/97). (***)
Aquatic plants dominate this information rich site. Over 360 photographs, 65 drawings, a database, a literature area, slide shows, glossary, list of prohibited plants, questions page, links to other Web sites and more are provided on these pages. The pictorial index is excellent; each available photo for downloading has a thumbnail version with a lucid description of the plant and its habitat. Illustrations are copyrighted, but are available if used in a classroom setting and properly acknowledged. These pages are maintained by the Center for Aquatic Plants, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. This is a nice site! (****)
May 15, 1996 - Plant Thesauri - no forwarding address 9/11/00
This site is devoted to two dictionaries of botanical terms: one is an index of morphological terms and the other is an index of cytogenetics terms. Although these link to rudimentary descriptions, they provide a nice start on terminology for those interested in the academic sides of botany. This site is a welcome terminological addition to the Net, maintained by the National Agricultural Library of USDA. (***1/2)
This site is devoted to algae, particularly marine macrophytes. Included in the site are links to algal culture collections, ALGAE-L: a bulletin board for phycologists, books and booksellers, check-lists, Irish seaweed (text and pictures), the Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute, pictures of Galway Bay (selection), and search engines for algal databases including a database of phycologists. Nice photos, text. This site is maintained by Michael Guiry and Tom Larkin of the Department of Botany, University College, Galway. (***1/2)
This is an online version of a text with the same name edited by J.M. Lackie and J.A.T. Dow for Academic Press, London. This is a simple searchable site with 5450 entries and 5772 cross-references in this, the second edition. There are also useful links to PROSITE when the molecular biology of the topic is known. This site is copyrighted by Academic Press, where you can also buy the software or the book, if you tire of using the Web site for free. (****)
An introduction to the evolution of seed plants. This site emphasizes a small collection of the many plants that are known from the fossil record. Although this is no substitute for any of the modern texts (e.g., Stewart and Rothwell or Taylor and Taylor), it provides a rough overview of a few important plants. Hopefully, this site will be developed further. Maintained by the Museum of Paleontology of The University of California at Berkeley. (***1/2)
May 8, 1996 - OCES Guide to Agricultural Web Sites
This is an authoritative Web site with links to University Sites, USDA, Ag Pubs (online and otherwise), Gardening, Ag Organizations, Markets, Media, Weather, Internet Resources, Government and other Web pages as well. The collection seems useful and puts together hard to find resources. This complements the more highly academic nature of many of the botany sites covered here. This site is maintained by Margi Stone Cooper of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. (***1/2)
May 7, 1996 - Wildflowers - ceased publication on 2/11/97 and erased the site :-(
This site is a resource for links to associations, catalogs, bibliographies, courses & institutes, Latin names for common plants, plant photographs, references, and state-by-state list of references. The linked sites above are particularly good. These pages are maintained by Gary Lipe, of Fort Worth, TX. (***1/2)
This is the most complete site of links to biological journals in print in the worldwide refereed literature. This site presents Tables of Contents (and occasionally text) of the most preeminent journals in the sciences. The Frontiers in Bioscience" is a non-profit platform created by scientists for scientists for fostering international scientific communication and ... to easily find information useful to them. (****)
May 3, 1996 - Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
This site contains links to 5 frequently updated databases, including: Ecosys--plant ecological ranges, EthnobotDB--worldwide plant uses, FoodplantDB--Native American food plants, MPNADB--medicinal plants of Native America, PhytochemDB--plant chemicals. This server is maintained by the Agriculture Research Service, National Agricultural Library, USDA). (****)
May 2, 1996 - Galaxy's Biological Sciences Gopher Sites
The heart of this site is a simple list of gopher sites for the biological sciences. Gopher sites are not usually as visually appealling as Web sites, but they are information rich. There is also a searchable index. (***)
This site lists the herbal uses of plants, along with their mode of action, common name, compounds present, family, indigenous use, native habitat, range, species, uses and treatments. Actually this is a commercial site of Overmind Software (who sells Herbage, HerbWeb and PlantDatabase as programs), but information on individual plants is free. There are also site-specific searching options and other key words to access the data. Lots of information. (***)
