Good Flora & Fauna Links

[Tony]

This thread is for good links on Flora & Fauna to help with the identification and provision of pictures etc

Please make sure that the links are good quality ones, a few of them will be better than a stack of chaff ones.

 

[match]

Plants for a Future - Home Page

Plants for a Future - Edible, Medicinal and Useful Plant Database - Over 7000 Plants in a Searchable Database

Natural Dye Plants - Plants for dyeing fabrics

Poisonous Plants Database

Native American Ethnobotany

Plant Image Gallery - a gallery of over 630 species of plants

 

[Tony]

It might be an idea if people put a short description of what’s on the site, although I appreciate that if I says it's about poisonous plants it probably is!

Cheers

 

[Moonraker]

Site:

Plants For A Future - Homepage

Plants For A Future - Database Search

Description From TheSite:

Plants For A Future is a resource centre for rare and unusual plants, particularly those which have edible, medicinal or other uses. We practice vegan-organic permaculture with emphasis on creating an ecologically sustainable environment and perennial plants.

Plants For A Future (PFAF) is a great database resource with 7300 edible medicinal and useful plants, each with a very detailed entry and can be searched in a number of ways.

Search Options

• Name, Common Name or Family
• an Edible, Medicinal, or Other Use
• plants native to a particular geographical Area
• plants which grow ina particular Habitat
• every field for a particular Word

Plant Information Includes:

• General Description (including Botanical (Latin) Name, Common name, Known Hazards, Range (Geographical), Habitat, PFAF Rating 1-5, Other Common Names, Epithets, Other Range Info.
• Physical Characteristics
• Habitat and Possible Locations
• Edible Uses
• Medicinal Uses
• Other Uses
• Cultivation details
• Propagation
• PFAF Web Pages (PFAF Database Help etc)
• Web References (both text and images elsewhere on theweb)
• References (bibliography)

Summary:

Great source of information for over 7000 plants with excellent detail on general usage, edibility and medicinal use all in one place. Very useful for checking variations of common names and the names used in other countries. Good links to reference material. Comprehensively written information. No illustrations but each page has links to images available elsewhere online.

 

[Moonraker]

Site:

USDA - PLANTS Database

The United States Dept. of Agriculture 'Nature Resources Conservation Service' PLANTS Database is a very comprehensive and well illustrated plant information and identification database. Whilst being obviously US centric, it contains many plants also found in Europe.

Description From The Site:

The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. It includes names, plant symbols, checklists, distributional data, species abstracts, characteristics, images, plant links, references, crop information, and automated tools. PLANTS reduces costs by minimizing duplication and making information exchange possible across agencies and disciplines.

Search Options:

• Common Name
• Botanical Name
• Advanced Query
• Alternative Crops
• Characteristics
• Checklists & Searches
• Classification
• Culturally Significant
• Distribution Update
• Excluded and Anomalous Names
• Fact Sheets
• Invasive & Noxious
• Plant Materials Publications
• Threatened & Endangered
• Wetland Indicator Status

Plant Information Includes:

• Botanical Name
• Group (taxonomical information)
• Family (taxonomical information)
• Growth Habit (short description)
• Duration (life span i.e. annual, biennial, perennial)
• US Nativity (Native and/or Introduced)
• Colour Photograph (generally very good quality)
• Plant Image (small line drawing with link to a much larger .tiff format version. Very useful for closeup details of plant)
• Plant Distribution By State (graphic representation)
• Plant Classification (full details of scientific taxonomy)
• Plant Source & Reference (online links, bibliography etc for further study)
• Related Taxa (related genera & species)
• Classification (full details of taxonomy/ plant family & naming)
• Invasive Information ( invasive non-natives and potential weeds)
• Introduced Information (where the plant came from if introduced)
• Other Species Accounts & Images (various references)
• Related Web Sites (online links)

Of special interest for bushcraft are the:

Culturally Significant Plants Section

and the:

Fact Sheets Section

(both accessible from the homepage also).

Plant Guides and Fact Sheets: a partnership between the National Plant Data Center and the Plant Materials Program.

Click on a .doc or .pdf link below to view a Plant Guide or Fact Sheet, or click on a name to view its Plant Profile with more information. Fact Sheets provide brief descriptions of a plant, its uses, and cultural recommendations. Plant Guides are similar but more extensive.

The downloads provide a 2-4 page colour guide, available in .pdf or .doc format. The guides contains more detailed text and also information on the plants use including: 'Ethnobotanic (past use of plants), Wildlife and Agroforestry.

Summary:

A very comprehensive plant database strong on illustrations (both photographic and line drawings), lots of scientific detail and links to further information of all kinds. Not strong on written descriptions. The 'Culturally Significant Plants' and 'Plant Guides' sections are especially useful for bushcraft purposes with freely downloadable .pdf files available.

Notes:

The common names are those used in the USA and often differ from the name used for the same plant in Europe. The Plant Guides include alternative names including British ones. Or check the PFAF site for a list of the different names used for each plant.

 

[Moonraker]

Site:

A Modern Herbal - Mrs. M. Grieve

Summary:

Although published back in 1931, this remains a great source of information including medicinal, culinary, cosmetic and economic properties, cultivation and folklore of over 800 herbs and plants to be found in the British Isles. Whilst informative, it also conveys Maud Grieve's passion for the subject she wrote so eloquently upon. The 'Index of Recipes' includes many tasty dishes and medicinal preparations, whilst the 'Index of Poisionous Plants' is useful but by no means complete.It is hosted by Botanical.com where you can order a printed version.

It is full of interesting facts from other countries also. Note the comment highlighted in red from the site regarding using this information in practice. It is one of the best online re sources on the subject

Description From The Site:

A Modern Herbal, first published in 1931, by Mrs. M. Grieve, contains Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs.

• Plant & Herb Index More than 800 varieties of herbs & plants
• Index of Recipes A listing of 29 plants that include recipes
• Index of Poisons A listing of 44 plants that are listed as poisonous

Regarding cultivation - Keep in mind that this was written in England, with a climate similar to the Pacific Northwest in America.

For Medicinal Use - Bear in mind it was written with the conventional wisdom of the early 1900's. This should be taken into account as some of the information may now be considered inaccurate, or not in accordance with modern medicine.

Search Options:

• Common Name
• Word Search
• Index of Recipes
• Index of Poisons

Plant Information Includes:

• Common Name (British)
• Botanical Name (Latin)
• Recipes
• Medicinal Uses of the Nettle
• Constituents
• Action and Uses
• Preparations
• Other Uses
• Synonyms
• Parts Used
• Plant Image (small line drawing with link to a larger version. Very useful for closeup details of plant)

Notes:

Keep in mind that this was written in England, with a climate similar to the Pacific Northwest in America.

There is a very useful introduction and list of British tree included in 'A Modern Herbal' at The-Tree.Org.UK - Trees from "A Modern Herbal"

 

[TheViking]

Good site for north american wildlife. Some of the species can be found here too though. http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/wildlife.html

 

[Moonraker]

Good site for north american wildlife. Some of the species can be found here too though. http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/wildlife.html

Thanks Andy. Perhaps this would be best in a similar Sticky thread under the 'Tracks' section? Then someone could organise and provide summary info for each site like here for Flora & Fauna. Then it will reduce repetition and keep the Sticky links focussed and clear.

Just a suggestion

 

[Moonraker]

Site:

RogersMushrooms

Summary:

Based on Roger Phillips seminal work 'Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe' It has over 1500 species and 3000 illustrations! and all the info found in the books including the original and excellent photos, text comments etc. All the info is on one page for each species with clickable photos for larger version. The Visual key and Easy key offer great search options to help find the mushroom you are looking for even if you do not know the name. Lovely recipes and notes on edibility/ uses. You have the option to buy the image/ photo but otherwise there is no crumby advertising or such like... quite stunning.

Description From The Site:

The site is based on Roger Phillips seminal work 'Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe' and the similar book published on the mushrooms and Fungi of North America. Roger's twenty-year
study will make the site the most complete collection of photographs and mushroom
information from both sides of the Atlantic ever assembled. We already have over
3000 images on our site to help you identify and learn more about the mushrooms
of Europe and North America!

RogersMushrooms is now completely free to access!

Search Options:

• Common Name
• Word Search
• Index of Recipes
• Index of Poisons

Plant Information Includes:

• Common Name (British)
• Botanical Name (Latin)
• Recipes
• Medicinal Uses of the Nettle
• Constituents
• Action and Uses
• Preparations
• Other Uses
• Synonyms
• Parts Used
• Plant Image (small line drawing with link to a larger version. Very useful for closeup details of plant)

Notes:

The mushroom index uses only botanical names. If you want to find one with the common name use the 'keyword search' box (on the left hand side)

Do take note of the disclaimer and information contented in it regarding the dangers of poisoning etc.

 

[Moonraker]

DRAFT INFORMATION - MORE TO FOLLOW

Sounds a mouthful but is a very interesting resource to find out more about how the Native American Peoples used plants both for food, medicine, cordage etc. A very comprehensive database with many plants which can also be found the British Isles and Europe. Hosted by the University of Michigan, USA

Native American Ethnobotany - A Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of Native American Peoples, Derived from Plants

A search for 'Nettle' (Urtica dioca) for instance gives 234 results! (note searching for 'nettles' only gives 18) Including both use of the plant and use of other plants to treat nettle stings for instance.

Just a few examples:

Urtica dioica L.
Stinging Nettle; Urticaceae
Okanagan-Colville Drug (Antirheumatic (External))
Fresh plants used to beat the skin after "sweathousing" and for rheumatic and arthritic pain.
Turner, Nancy J., R. Bouchard and Dorothy I.D. Kennedy 1980 Ethnobotany of the Okanagan-Colville Indians of British Columbia and Washington. Victoria. British Columbia Provincial Museum (p. 140)

Urtica dioica L.
Stinging Nettle; Urticaceae
Mohegan Food (Vegetable)
Combined with pigweed, mustard, plantain and dock and used as mixed greens.
Tantaquidgeon, Gladys 1972 Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians. Harrisburg. Pennsylvania Historical Commission Anthropological Papers #3 (p. 83)

Urtica dioica L.
Stinging Nettle; Urticaceae
Hesquiat Fiber (Cordage)
Dried, peeled stems used to make twine, ropes and herring nets.
Turner, Nancy J. and Barbara S. Efrat 1982 Ethnobotany of the Hesquiat Indians of Vancouver Island. Victoria. British Columbia Provincial Museum (p. 76)

Urtica dioica L.
Stinging Nettle; Urticaceae
Nitinaht Other (Hunting & Fishing Item)
Plants rubbed on fishing lines to eliminate human odor.
Turner, Nancy J., John Thomas, Barry F. Carlson and Robert T. Ogilvie 1983 Ethnobotany of the Nitinaht Indians of Vancouver Island. Victoria. British Columbia Provincial Museum (p. 112)

Urtica dioica ssp. gracilis (Ait.) Seland.
California Nettle; Urticaceae
Chehalis Drug (Dermatological Aid)
Decoction of roots used as a hair wash.
Gunther, Erna 1973 Ethnobotany of Western Washington. Seattle. University of Washington Press. Revised edition (p. 28)

Artemisia dracunculus L.
Wormwood; Asteraceae [note: not the absinthe type but French Tarragon ]
Shoshoni Drug (Dermatological Aid)
Decoction of whole plant used as a wash for nettle stings.
Train, Percy, James R. Henrichs and W. Andrew Archer 1941 Medicinal Uses of Plants by Indian Tribes of Nevada. Washington DC. U.S. Department of Agriculture (p. 39, 40)

Each listing has a link for the plant at the United States Department of Agriculture - Plant Database which is in itself a great resource full of info on plants, again many of which grow over here.

Check out the entry for Nettles - Urtica dioca

and links to very decent and large botanical illustrations:

small version:

large image (online)

Urtica dioica L. stinging nettle

 

[Moonraker]

Site:

BioImages - Virtual Field-Guide (UK)

Summary:

Extensive online database of photographic images for both the Flora and Fauna of the British Isles. Over 48,000 images depicting some 4500 species. Not a flashy site but easy enough to navigate and with good photographs, often multiple ones for each species including very detailed images of flowers,fruit and foliage. If you are not familiar with botanical names the best place to start is the Shortcuts page with a list of common name groupings (i.e. 'mushrooms and toadstools', 'butterflies and moths' etc)

Description From The Site:

Welcome to BioImages, the Virtual Field-Guide for UK Bio-diversity.

• Content: This site offers a large selection of pictures of Natural History objects, mostly British in origin.
  
  
• Purpose: The images are presented to illustrate biodiversity and as an aid to identification. While pictures alone are generally NOT sufficient for identification, by showing different stages, states and views of the organisms more information can be offered than is available in field-guides.
  
  
• How to find your way around: BioImages is arranged in the normal biological classification (or at least my interpretation of it.) This is a hierarchical system with species grouped in genera, genera in families, families in orders and so on up to kingdoms and superkingdoms. Living Things takes you to the top of the classification tree.
  
  
• Searching: BioImages is indexed by Google (you can enter English or Latin names)
  
  
• Browsing: If you just want to browse, Shortcuts takes you to a list of links to groups of organisms. You can then go directly to the group your are interested in. Then follow the links down to the species you want to see.
  

At the foot of each page in the classification hierarchy is a row of links to take you back up the hierarchy. Using these and the "down" links in the body of the page you can navigate sideways.

This is a large site containing (Mar 05) 48,000 images depicting 4,500 species. The images include habitat shots, close-ups, macro shots and microscopy. Enjoy!

Search Options:

See 'Description From The Site' above for details.

Plant Information Includes:

See 'Description From The Site' above for details.

Notes:

Really great for close up, detailed photographs of plants and animals. No text just shot descriptions of the images.

 

[redcollective]

http://www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/trees/home.html

 

[Moonraker]

http://www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/trees/home.html

Nice link recollective. It is one of the best plant identification sites for British plants and is on my list to summarise

 

[aquanaut]

useful Link (particularly in Scottish context)

Flora celtica

includes

Useful Fungi of Scotland
Coastal plants and their uses
Uses of Seaweeds
Scottish native plants in drinks

also see this part of their site

 

[Moonraker]

useful Link (particularly in Scottish context)

Flora celtica

includes

Useful Fungi of Scotland
Coastal plants and their uses
Uses of Seaweeds
Scottish native plants in drinks

also see this part of their site

Nice link there aquanut, thanks

Another one which I found recently you might want to check out which covers Scotland and has some really excellent info on ethnobotany and foraging is:

NTFPs (Non-timber forest products ) in Scotland

Sounds a bit off putting at first glance but they have amongst other good stuff this:

NTFPs in Scotland - Gathering

and especially this excellent:

Gathering Calendar

Well designed and presented with links to all the plants. Good source of advice on legalities etc of foraging in Scotland.

Another site which I found very useful for plant info with good photography is:

Skye Flora

happy foraging

 

[Moonraker]

A couple of nice British tree sites, with images, descriptions, use for fuel, carving, medical etc.

Probably the most comprehensive:

the-tree.org.uk - British Trees, native & introduced

Includes native and non-native, about 130 trees.

british-trees.com - An Introductory Guide to Native British Trees

Good info and photos on all 33 British Native Trees.

 

[Ahjno]

Quick Identification of trees by their leaves:

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/quickidtreeleaves.htm

 

[stovie]

http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/

Good clear images of the more common varieties

 

[redflex]

List of free download guides to tropical plant and animals by country

Plants Trees etc

http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/plantguides/rcg_intro.asp



Animals

http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/animalguides/rcg_intro.asp

 

[stovie]

This is quite extensive, but requires patience to search what you are looking for.

Over 1500 species (and variants) from north America and Europe.

Rogers Mushrooms