This will blow your mind

Today I was trying to find out information so I could add my Chirita Stardust to the PlantFiles. So I did what you all told me to do and went the the page where it says "generalized search" and typed in Chirita Stardust and it found nothing. So I was going to add it as a new plant. But then I thought that I wanted to try one more thing before adding it if it was already in the PFs. So I went to 'ask.com' and typed in the following: "common name for chirita". And then I got a really big surprise. I think it was the first listing that talked about Dave's Garden and chiritas so I clicked on that link. And it took me to a page of lots of chiritas and guess what? Mine was already listed. So what I can't understand is if the generalized search does not find something that is really already there, how are we going to know if what we want to add is really a new plant or not. Here is the address that came up to show me all the chiritas at DG. I do not understand why we can't find something in a search of any kind but can go on the net and ask a question about it and it is found that way. I'm just a little confused. Oh here is the addy that I got when I went to ask.com and typed in my search criteria and you can go there and see where DG is listed and click on that and it takes you straight to a list of all the chiritas in DG PlantFile. http://www.ask.com/web?q=common+name+for+chirita&qsrc=0&o=333&l=dir

I found out what you where doing wrong. You typed CheritaS as in several do it in singular Chirita and they will come up on generalized search.
Janett

Or did you add the stardust in the search, just type Chirita.

This message was edited Mar 1, 2007 4:33 PM

I've had the same thing happen, I don't remember which plant it was for but I was going to add a plant, then searched for more information as I always do to ensure I have all the correct details.

I found the plant was already there in a google search.

I know which fields to fill in to search properly, on some occasions I couldn't find the plant I wanted by using Genus and species or cultivar, I never use both species and cultivar together as that seems to confuse even more. I then tried by using a common name and found the entry.

On other occasions if I couldn't find the plant I took the step of just using the genus name, then went through all the pages presented.

There is definitely a glitch!

Okay, here's what I think happened.

If you use the generalized search and:

1) look for Chirita stardust, it gets confused and won't return the correct results: http://davesgarden.com/pf/search.php?search_text=chirita+stardust&Search=Search

2) look for just Chirita, you get 47 entries to look through: http://davesgarden.com/pf/search.php?search_text=chirita&Search=Search

3) look for just stardust, it can't find it (that's a glitch): http://davesgarden.com/pf/search.php?search_text=stardust&Search=Search



If you use the field-by-field search and:

1) add "chirita" to the genus name field and "stardust" to the cultivar field, it works: http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=chirita&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=stardust&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

2) add "stardust" to the cultivar field (no other fields) it finds it along with 27 other plants named "Stardust": http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=stardust&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

3) add "chirita" to the common name field and "stardust" to the cultivar field, it doesn't work: http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=chirita&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=stardust&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

The reason #3 doesn't work is because when the entry was created, no common name was added. Some people don't like common names, and refuse to add them to their entries. That may be a noble gesture on behalf of botanical nomenclature, but it creates problems when someone tries to search for it, as in this instance.

This is the one I use Terry,

http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?Search=Click+here+to+search+for+plants

I ALWAYS search using the 'genus' and either 'species' or 'cultivar' field, but as explained above have had problems.

Thanks so much for all of your help. I am now seeing that I have to know how to search in order to find what I'm looking for. If you are too specific, it will not find things that you're looking for. You have to give it one major thing to search for. Now that I understand that, I know how to do it. Thanks so much for helping me.

Jesse

Well seems like everything I search for is too specific unless I know the exact name. I just searched for scallion and got nothing. Bunching onion the same thing. Sometimes the apostrophe throws off the search as well. I will google to come up with different names for the same plant and then search with the new name. Even with these little problems I still love PF though, just needs tweaking somehow.

-Kim

If you go to the specific search (the one where you can put in family, genus, species etc) and type either scallion or bunching onion into the common name field, you get a number of results.

The search tool is a real booger for me, so I just
go to Google and type in something like

DAVE'S GARDEN CHIRITA STARDUST

Works like a charm every time. :-)

I have done the advanced search on google where you type in what you want, then restrict it to the dg website and that will find anything. I was just adding a few items and that is why I needed to know if it was already in the PlantFiles.

Jesse

One thing I've run into on PF is sometimes I search on a botanical name as I know it, and get nothing. But many plants have changed their genus or species in recent years. If both the old and the new botanical name aren't listed on PF, I may not find it. Same thing with common names. If the one I use isn't listed on PF, I won't get anything. It would be nice if I could add onto the PF listing (if I eventually find it) to add an old botanical name or an additional common name, but I don't know how to do that.

To add another botanical name, go to the bottom and click on Live View, then if you go back up to the top I think you'll see an option to add a synonym. If it's missing a common name though, you need to click on "report an error" and that'll let you send an email to the PF admins who can make the change.