1. How do I find information about the different groups of plants, fungi, and lichens found in the Preserve if I am on the flowering plants pages?
Answer: Click on "Select Group" in the banner to access the group you are interested in.
2. I do not know much about botany but I am very interested in flowering plants and would like to learn more.
Answer: On the flowering plants home page you will see a series of links under “RESOURCES.” The links lead to PowerPoint presentations on leaves, flowers, and scientific names of plants.
3. I am not familiar with botanical terminology. How can I find the definition of a term used to describe flowering plants?
Answer: Click on “ GLOSSARY” on the flowering plants home page.
4. How can I determine what species of a given family of flowering plants are found in the Preserve?
Answer: Click on "CHECKLIST" to access an alphabetical listing of the flowering plant families known to occur in the Preserve. Click on the family of interest and this will yield a list of the genera and species documented with herbarium specimens and/or images. The specimens representing a given species will be accompanied by specimen data, scans of a herbarium sheet, and field images. By reading the labels on the specimens, viewing the scan of the herbarium sheet, and studying the field images you may be able to determine the identification of a plant of interest.
5. Are there species pages and, if so, how can I consult them?
Answer: Species pages are not planned for this project. However, plants of special concern will be represented by species pages. For example, the Japanese barberry and other invasive plants will be treated in more detail. In order to find species pages for invasive flowering plants you will have to click “Invasive species” on the flowering plants home page and that will yield a list of invasive species by scientific name.
6. If I know the common name of a plant, how can I find out its scientific name and get access to other information about it?
Click on the "COMMON NAMES" link on the flowering plants home page. There you will be able to browse through the list of the common names. For example, scroll to "red columbine” in the search box and you will get a list of specimens that have been collected of Aquiligia canadensis.
7. If I do not know the name of a plant and nobody can tell me what it is, what do I do?
Click on "Specimens" found in the banner of the flowering plants page. For example, if you are in the preserve in June and come across a white flowered plant you can enter those parameters into the search boxes ("June" in the date box and "white" in the plant description box) and you will get a list of specimens agreeing with this input. If you retrieve more than one species you can compare the images with the plant you are interested in knowing the name of. A better method is to use keys to identify the plant but we have not yet constructed them. If nothing else works, send us an image of the plant you wish to know the name of.
8. When I click on a species name in a checklist, why am I not able to see the images and all of the data?
Click on the scientic name or on the icon of an image to see all of the data, including images.