"Botanary additions pending" list?

Hi Terry and Dave,

I checked out the previous queries on the Botanary, so I know that the additions do get reviewed and uploaded periodically. Would it be possible to have a list (or even a number) of pending additions on our member info page, just like the list of pending PDB pics? This way I could tell whether I'm losing it or really did submit some words... ;-)

Shannon

Well, if I would stay on top of the new Botanary terms, you wouldn't need to monitor them, lolol. I think I've released the two you put in there (if there were others, I didn't see them, but I *will* check again tomorrow ;o)

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the fast response! Cupressaceae has been released, but Juglandaceae is still in the queue - but I'm not worried about them! I have complete faith in the process - I asked about a pending list only because I know you guys have bigger things to do than check the Botanary every five minutes...lol.... I thought that if there were a pending list in the member info, it might cut down the questions! :-)
I have a bunch more words to add in the coming months, in dribs & drabs, as I'm sure lots of other folks do too. This is a great resource! Thanks again,
Shannon - in *snowy* Gatineau.

Shannon, thank you for the submissions, and please keep 'em coming. I've got some cleanup work to do with the queue (occasionally someone mixes up Botanary and Garden Terms) and frequently I have to take a stab (painful) at adding the pronunciation aid (I'm not sure if my suggestions are more of a help or hindrance to the reader!)

The queue is a good idea...it'll be up to Dave whether to add it or not ;o)

Definitely a help, not a hindrance, without question! :-)

It's funny, my botany prof says "-AY-see-ay" for family names, but in most other places I've seen "AY-see-ee"... funny how variations get passed along, correct or not.
Thanks again!

~Shannon - in *winter wonderland* Gatineau

I recently got raked over the coals by a reader for using the long "AY" sound in any words. Big no-no with classic Latin - all a's should be pronounced as they are in cat or call.

Can't think how I'd pronounce "Acer" if that were true, but I bet I'd get some strange looks from the nursery folks!

If you stick with classical Latin pronunciation then you'd pronounce Acer as Ak-er, and who amonst us pronounces it that way? Besides you cannot always fix those rules when letters are used that do not appear in the classical Latin alphabet, it being made of 23 letters omitting J, V and W, V and U being one and the same and used as both vowel and consenant i.e. Video and Urbs (often written Vrbs by Romans). K, Y and Z were used for words of Greek origin and therefore technically not Latin, this also includes many words that contain th, ph and ch, these are normally if not always of Greek origin.

When a plant is named after someone do we then ignore the pronunciation of the name and stick to classical rules? No, Jovelleana is pronounced with a J rather than i (like v and u, i and j amount to the same thing) so that really upsets the classical pronunciation apple cart!

Classical rules are possibly appropriate in the Latin parts of the name, usually the suffix but enforcing that just serves to make it more inaccessable to those without a classical Latin background.

Incidently, according to the Oxford Latin dictionary, classically ae is not pronounced ee or ay (it's i as in high) but I've seen many insist ae is ee or ay ;)

Amen, Baa!

And I'd love to see the looks on the daylily breeders when we begin calling their plants hem-er-ROK-al-liss ;o)

Bless Dr. Stearn's heart. With so much of his life's work wrapped up in documenting, dissecting and explaining botanical Latin to the masses, he still said it best when he said plant names should pronounced in a way that "sounds pleasant and can be understood by all."

How do the Daylily breeders pronounce it?

Hear, hear, Terry! None of us can claim to have been around in the days of the original speakers, anyway ;-)

hem-er-oh-KAL-iss is how it's usually pronounced - and not just by daylily breeders. (Not picking on anyone or any group ;o)

There is very little similarity between the sound of Latin words as pronounced by Englishers as compared to by Germans and then again by French-speaking people, etc. etc.
I butcher English all the time.

Hi Dave & everyone,

It seems that the more features you're willing to establish, the more we ask for! Sounds like the "mission creep" we get sometimes at work....where starting one thing leads you to do a whole bunch of other things, and it gets bigger and bigger - then without your realizing it, the whole thing is taking 10 times the resources than was ever intended. I guess this is "garden creep"...lol

Well at the risk of adding to it, I was just wondering if there were plans to have a "Botanary additions pending" function on member info pages, at any point in the future. It doesn't matter to me when the additions are reviewed & released, but I'd love to have a "pending" list to help me know whether I already added a word or am, in fact, losing it... :-)

Just an idea. Thanks for all your hard work & enthusiasm at DG - the site is just wonderful!

~Shannon in *still snowy* Ottawa

Hi again,

Not sure if this request got missed in the flurry, but I just wanted to ask again if there are any plans to add a "Botanary additions pending" queue-view function to the member info page, so we can stop bugging Terry? :-)

Shannon

I would like to endorse spklatt's request for a "Botanary additions pending" item on our home pages. I have periodically added definitions to the Botanary and it becomes hard to know whether a definition is still in the queue or whether to repost it. I have in my reckoning 17 items in the queue at present, with Conostylis going right back to July 2004 and still waiting.

I understand that adding these to the Botanary is a low priority and I make it harder for Terry by not knowing how to express the pronunciation aids. Just having a check list that said they had not gone astray would be a useful aid and would encourage us to keep building onto the Botanary..

The Botanary Pending Queue is finished. It is available as a custom menubox on the homepage.

Go to your Preferences area, and click on "Customize homepage". Then enable the Botanary Pending box by giving it a non-zero number and submit the page. Then return to your homepage (clicking the logo is the shortcut) and it should appear.

Let me know if you have trouble accessing!

best,
dave

It works perfectly, and with details too - wow! Now we can stop bugging poor Terry, who I'm sure has bigger fish to fry than Botanary additions. :-) Thanks for the vote in favour, kennedyh, and thanks very much, Dave and Terry. Once again, you guys truly are the best!

Shannon

Thanks, Dave.

And to those who have entries in Botanary, you *will* start seeing them regularly released. One reason it sometimes takes a while (aside from the fact we put Botanary on hiatus last summer) is that I try to make sure all declensions (-a, -us, -um, -e-, -is, etc.) are ready to release at the same time, which usually means a bit of work to track them down and create any missing entries. Not an excuse for the tardiness, but a bit of explanation as to part of what goes into the process. ;o)

We also frequently suffer from confusion over what goes in Botanary vs. Garden Terms and I *try* but don't always remember to let people know when I've deleted items from Botanary's queue. Remember, Botanary is only for plant names (family, genus, species names.)

Botanical terms that are not an actual plant name belong in Garden Terms.

Terry, is there any way we can make the declensions part easier for you, when we are submitting new entries?

If you want to track them down and add them, that would be great. It's usually just a matter of using Google to type in the possible declensions and determining if they're in use as plant epithets. (No need to include them if they're only used for insects, fish, animals, etc.)

Will do!

dave, that is excellent. It makes life a lot easier and means we can leave Terry in peace to process botanary items in her own time, knowing that the information is secure.
Terry, one little problem highlighted by the Botanary Pending Queue. There is clearly a limit on the space allotted to the description. This is apparent, because one item I entered, the definition of Thelychiton has been cut short. I copied it from a text and it is a rather lengthy description. Here it is in full:
From the Greek: thely = female, chiton = covered. Two species of this genus on Norfolk Island have the stigmatic surface, surrounded by column tissue (forming a tube) with the anther covering it. Thus these species are unable to be pollinated in the normal manner by exchange of pollinia, ie they are cleistogamous.
The Pending Queue listing ends at thus, cutting off the last 19 words.
Here is an attempt to reword it within the size limit:
From the Greek: thely = female, chiton = covered. Two species of this genus on Norfolk Island have the female surface concealed by the anther tube, making the flowers cleistogamous.

Ken, I'll take care of it. There is a character limit (for our sanity ;o) - I'm not sure what it is, but it looks like yours may have hit it.

Hi Terry, no wonder I was confused,
I thought the word botany pertained to something entirely different. When I took Botany in school, it pertained to all plants and animals, including people. We studied the parts of the body, plants and animals.

I thought the term nomenclature referred to the Latin names of species, genera, tribes and other groups.
Where have a gone wrong. What is a taxinomist then?
Someone here can explain this to me.

Norma

In our curriculum it was "biology" that applied to plants & animals (& all the other kingdoms), whereas botany applied to plants alone and zoology to animals. Of course, the protocol's always changing....if you want to know how many kingdoms there are, consult three books and you'll get four answers! :-)

Botany does apply to plants. But Botanary (notice the spelling) is the name for our botanical dictionary of plant names. We have a separate database for other botanical terminology, called Garden Terms.

It's a fine line of distinction, but it makes sense when you consider that Botanary links into PlantFiles entries (it's what provides the pronunciation and the link to more info, including the etymology.)

Terms like taxonomy (and taxonomist) are defined in Garden Terms - and more definitions are always welcome ;o)