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There are five basic categories for online systematic databases: images, synonyms, atlases, Herbarium, and floras and field guides. Image databases contain a collection of plant images, and may contain some additional plant information. Synonym databases are used to find the accepted names of plants by searching through plant synonyms. Atlases are collections of distribution maps of plant species. Herbarium databases contain the collection information found on specimen labels in a Herbarium. These databases may contain other useful information as well, such as distribution maps.

Floras and field guides are all encompassing types of systematic databases. These contain any combination of the databases mentioned above, such as images or distribution maps, in addition to other information such as rare plant status or detailed species descriptions. These databases usually contain only those plant species found in a specific area, such as the flora of California or the flora of North America.

Interactive identification tools are programs useful in making keys based on characters entered into these databases. These are not online databases, but can be very useful in creating keys which can be placed on the Internet. These databases also let you import images as well. You can use these interactive identification tools to make a key for a group of plants, and some programs have pre-made databases available that you can use to key out plants of a particular region.

Some of these useful resources are listed below, with their web address in italics below the description:

Floras and Field Guides

• PLANTS - Maintained by the USDA, this database includes names, checklists, photographs, plant characteristics, native status, distributional data, crop information, plant symbols, plant growth data, wetland status, plant links, references, and other plant information.

• Rare Plant Field Guide of Colorado - This is the online version of the wonderful manual Colorado Rare Plant Field Guide. It includes rare plant status, distribution maps, photographs, and species descriptions.

• Flora of North America - This is the online version of some volumes of The Flora of North America. It includes an interactive key (but you have to get it to genus or family), detailed descriptions of species, distribution maps, pictures, and illustrations. The only drawback is that not every family is represented yet.

• W³Tropicos - This site provides access to the Missouri Botanical Garden's VAST (VAScular Tropicos) nomenclatural database and associated authority files. Search by scientific name to receive information on nomenclature, type specimens, publications, chromosome counts, and maps of specimen localities.

• CalFlora - Through the University of California at Berkeley, this database provides information about all 8,375 currently recognized vascular plants in California. Users may browse these collections by scientific or common names. Photographs, and information about plant distribution are presented textually and via interactive map capabilities. In most cases the data is publicly available and downloadable. This is a wonderful online database, and is just the kind of thing we would like made available for Colorado.

Synonyms

• A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland - This is the online version of Kartesz's synonyms checklist. It is useful for finding the currently accepted name of a species.

Images

• Vascular Plant Image Gallery - Texas A & M University has set up a nice gallery of thousands of plant pictures.

Herbarium Databases - In addition to CS, a few other herbaria have online searchable databases of specimens.

• Colorado State University - Currently, you can search by scientific name to generate a list of specimens at CS by state and county. We are working on making more information available, such as distribution maps.

• Oregon State University - Search by locality, collector, or scientific name to retrieve a list of specimens at OSU.

• The University of Arizona - Search for type specimens at the University of Arizona Herbarium.

• The University of Texas at Austin - One of the nice things about this searchable herbarium database is that you can sort the results by county and collector.

• Search Living Collections - Search for living collections of plants at many botanical gardens (including the Denver Botanic Gardens), arboreta such as the Arnold Arboretum, and various other collections.

Interactive Identification Tools

Interactive identification tools allow the user to create their own key for the identification of species.

• XID - It's pretty user friendly, but a bit expensive. It's especially useful for searching by vegetative characteristics. What's nice about this program is that you can buy a custom database for Colorado species. A free demo is available for download.

Atlases or Distribution Maps

• Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah - This is a digital version of the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah.

• Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Wyoming - The Rocky Mountain Herbarium in Larimie, WY has compiled this collection of distribution maps of plant species in Wyoming based on collections at the Herbarium.

This list of resources was shortened to include mainly those of interest to Colorado and the western states. For a more complete listing of botanical databases, software, and images please visit The Internet Directory for Botany