A few pointers for entering plants in the database

I appreciate everyone's participation in our August challenge to increase the database. It's been fun and exciting to see so many new plants being added. I have noticed a few areas that seem to confuse folks, so here are two tips to help you when adding to the database:

Tip #1: Difference between family, genus and species.
Family names end in "ceae" - like Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, etc. If you aren't sure of the family name, go to a search engine like Google (www.google.com) and enter the common name + family.

For example, type in Dame's Rocket + family. That will give you many links to sites that will tell you that Dame's Rocket (Hesperis) is in the mustard (Brassicaceae) family. Some older family names do not end in "ceae", but they have been replaced by more updated names.

For example, Brassicaceae used to be Cruciferae. If in doubt, ask; I'll be glad to help you figure out the correct family or any other aspect of the plant you have in mind. Same goes for any aspect of the database you have questions about - e-mail me or post a question here, and I'll reply ASAP.

Genus and species are easy to find, just like family names. Keep in mind that:
-Genus names are capitalized as proper nouns (ex. for Dame's Rocket, the Genus is Hesperis.
-Species names are NOT capitalized: Hesperis (genus) matronalis (species)

Tip #2: Avoiding Repeats.
The database is starting to have some repeats, which is bound to happen when many people are entering information at the same time. PLEASE do a search on the database with the common or Latin name (genus, at least) and make sure the plant you're about to add isn't already in the database. If it is, don't give up! Check to see if it has an entry for General Information, Propagation, or Photo. If not, and you have one, add your entry.

One of the unique features of this database is multiple contributors adding their expertise to a particular plant. And an addition to an existing entry counts the same as adding a new plant for the contest.

Thanks to everyone for all their hard work! I'll post a new tally soon, so we'll know how close we are to the goal.

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Thanks GV!
I'm really "green" - pardon the pun- at all the scientific name stuff and your explanation really helped because I get really confused on what the species, genus, etc., is!! SO thanks and I hope you haven;t had to correct too many of mine!! tee- hee- although I'm sure you did! Thanks for all your workin this!
-JSS

To be honest, I didn't really understand the difference between family, genus and species when I started adding plants last spring. I've learned a lot from Mary's entries on the various families, and I know I still have a lot of learning to do!

Many thanks to Mary for her work in adding the families - she did a tremendous amount of work prior to the challenge, and she is a quiet "wealth of knowledge" here at DG.

If you have any questions, I will try to be prompt at replying to e-mails and postings here as the contest continues.

And about those repeats. I have to confess that I entered a duplicate entry the other day - I didn't know that Hardy Plumbago (C. plumbaginoides) was in the database already - I did a search and didn't find it, so I entered it only to find that Eyesoftexas had beat me to the punch! So I am guilty as charged, and my comments were directed at myself as much as anyone :) It made me realize that it is very easy to overlook an existing entry.

This message was edited Thursday, Aug 16th 7:43 PM

Update: just 56 more plants, and we'll have 1,000 plants in the database. That's an amazing accomplishment in such a short amount of time! Looking at the newsletter totals, I can see where we've added at least 600 plants and/or descriptions! Photos aren't included in that total, and I know several of you have been busy adding them as well, so we are well on our way to reaching our goal!

My only caution to everyone is to really check before adding a plant - it is definitely getting harder to find one that hasn't been added yet!

Vols I see I'm guilty of adding a few duplicates as well. What will you do in that case? Will you try to combine the info onto one entry so you can eliminate the other? When adding info should we add it to both entries or try to keep in on one? I tried to go back and delete an entry that was a duplicate but I didn't have that option.

Sue, I'll work with Dave to find the duplicates, compare them to determine how to best combine them, and then I'll work with whoever entered the second entry to move over descriptions, photos, etc.

I did a query of the database, asking it to return to me any duplicate entries.

I searched for duplicates looking for entries that share the genus and species. It returned quite a bit of entries that were not really dups, however, because many different plants have the same botanical name (example, Cauliflower and Broccoli).

So, after weeding those out, I think I have the official list of true dups below, ordered by their date entered in the database. The oldest ones are listed before the newer duplicated entries.

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/210.html ) Browallia speciosa
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/934.html ) Browallia speciosa

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/184.html ) Caladium bicolor
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/592.html ) Caladium bicolor

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/38.html ) Campanula medium
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/685.html ) Campanula medium
3rd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/42.html ) Campanula takesimana
4th: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/375.html ) Campanula takesimana

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/381.html ) Centaurea montana
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/493.html ) Centaurea montana

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/876.html ) Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/886.html ) Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/402.html ) Geranium pratense
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/533.html ) Geranium pratense
3rd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/538.html ) Geranium pratense

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/160.html ) Nymphaea hybrids
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/454.html ) Nymphaea hybrids

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/304.html ) Ocimum basilicum
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/925.html ) Ocimum basilicum

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/429.html ) Osteospermum hybrids
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/430.html ) Osteospermum hybrids

1st: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/777.html ) Talinum paniculatum
2nd: (http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/899.html ) Talinum paniculatum

Thanks Dave - this is really going to help now. And thanks Terri, I know how hard you are working. I have been trying to add to the data base but this is not the best time for me, what with the new house and garden. However, my difficulty comes with entering photos - I can do it, but it takes me a little longer. Maybe if I stay off the forums I would have plenty time on my hands :-)

56 needed (down to 47 now). I'll get gracking then !!

El Tel

Well Poo! I did a search for Artemisia schmidtiana and it wasn't there. I added it. I went back a few minutes later to make sure I added a photo and there were two entries! Did my search miss something or did we enter at the same time? Feel free to remove mine. The other picture is better. LOL
Michele

Michele, what I've found helps the most is to:

1. search by Latin (not Common) name; and
2. if I don't find the intended plant in the search, then I find another plant in the same genus (or even family), click on the genus (or family) and look at all the related plants.

Step 2 is my double check to know that I haven't missed it because I searched for it under a different spelling than what might be in the database.

In your case, I'm not sure what happened, since you spelled it the same way as the original entry. Just a fluke perhaps?

Thanks GV, I'm a fluke?! LOL I did search by Latin and pulled up a few, but not the one I entered. I'm sure when Mr. Dave does his duplicate thing, he can pull up two and erase one. Like I said, the other picture is better anyway. :)

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Dave I entered the info on this one where it should go so you can zap this one. lol http://davesgarden.com/plants/go/925.html

Good eye, MzM! Until you caught that I didn't realize that Dave had the water lilies in his "crosshairs"

Michele, oh, I'm sorry - I wasn't calling you a fluke, honest! I was thinking a fluke had occcured when your search didn't reveal the other entry for Artemisia :0)

Question?? If there is already a entry and a picture. can I add a additional picture to the same post? the reason I ask is I kinda already did...I added just a picture to the post so now there is like 4 pictures instead of the orginal 2. If this was wrong I soo do apologize. I hope it didn't mess anything up.

Mollybee, that is perfectly fine :)

Your question indirectly raises another good pointer for all of us: occasionally go back to the plants we've added, and check to see if our information needs to be updated, or if a new (and perhaps better) photo has been added. You can always edit and/or delete your own descriptions and photos.

Boy that's a relief!! I thought for a second there I had messed something up. I feel so much better now. thanks!

Oh GV, I know you weren't calling me names. LOL I knew what you meant. I am just a smarty pants. I applaud your effort to make the data base a great one. I felt bad when I realized there were two. I could take out the info and the picture, but it wouldn't remove the whole thing so I just left it. I guess it is one of those things where the Webmaster can use the GRAND delete button. LOL

Glad to see we are over the 1000. I agree about getting the naming and classification correct; it makes searching for information so much easier. Despite contributing a few descriptions lately, I must admit I hadn't noticed the groupings of Family types (by Mary mostly - thanks Mary), which clearly illustrates that plants with the same family name can belong to a wide variety of types. For that reason I think we need to be careful about how far we rationalise the entries. It is the responsibility of anyone posting to the DB to check there is not already an entry (the search facility will soon pick them out) and if there is, add your comment and/or picture to the existing entry.

OK - I must press on to 2000 !!

El Tel