OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for comparison
to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.

1. Names (since they are always changing)
2. Native environment & feet above sea level.
3. Culture
4. Photo
Cheers & Good Luck!
Wendy
"Kye" wrote in message
...
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for comparison
to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.

Kye wrote:
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for comparison
to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.




Me too. But there's no substitute for a good library. Dave Gillingham
sent me articles on Den speciosum that gave me great information on the
varieties for this species and its habitat range. Now I know what to
look for if I ever decide to buy one of these expensive orchids.

There are times I hate waiting for the computer and the different
programs to boot up in order to access information. Sometimes its
easier to look it up in an index or a book like Cribb's checklist to
Madagascar species.

Usually information available online is just the same stuff stolen from
each other. But every now and then there's some good stuff available online.

K Barrett

Any particular online resources you would like to mention?

Cheers
Kye.

"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..
Kye wrote:
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the
species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for
comparison to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.




Me too. But there's no substitute for a good library. Dave Gillingham
sent me articles on Den speciosum that gave me great information on the
varieties for this species and its habitat range. Now I know what to look
for if I ever decide to buy one of these expensive orchids.

There are times I hate waiting for the computer and the different programs
to boot up in order to access information. Sometimes its easier to look
it up in an index or a book like Cribb's checklist to Madagascar species.

Usually information available online is just the same stuff stolen from
each other. But every now and then there's some good stuff available
online.

K Barrett

Kenneth Brucynick sent me a link to this site
http://orchid.unibas.ch/bibliorchidea.index.php

There's Bob Betts' photo search for a kinda sorta index to orchids at the
London Orchid Scoiety site http://los.lon.imag.net/picref.asp. I like
Miranda's page for brazilian orchids. http://mirandaorchids.com/

There used to be a fellow in Australia who had a decent page for dendrobiums
but I'm blanking on his name....it wasn't Stocker...grrr.. it'll come to me.

Of course Eric Hunt's page for pictures erichunt.com or his flikr site.
People's comments (especially for the borneo photo ids) are great.

I really don't use the ISOPE anymore. The advice is just too vague. I use
it for photo ids.

But generally I just put whatever orchid I'm looking for in teh google
search engine. Lots of times all that comes up will be vague stuff from
chat rooms, which I take with a grain of salt unless I know/heard of the
person giving the advice.

K Barrett




"Kye" wrote in message
...
Any particular online resources you would like to mention?

Cheers
Kye.

"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..
Kye wrote:
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the
species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for
comparison to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.




Me too. But there's no substitute for a good library. Dave Gillingham
sent me articles on Den speciosum that gave me great information on the
varieties for this species and its habitat range. Now I know what to
look for if I ever decide to buy one of these expensive orchids.

There are times I hate waiting for the computer and the different
programs to boot up in order to access information. Sometimes its easier
to look it up in an index or a book like Cribb's checklist to Madagascar
species.

Usually information available online is just the same stuff stolen from
each other. But every now and then there's some good stuff available
online.

K Barrett

Kye,
I use J. Pfahl's orchid encyclopedia one of the first orchid research
sites.
http://www.orchidspecies.com/

Also one of the firsts, Bakers orchid culture site, very in depth with all
kinds of info & data.
http://www.orchidculture.com/COD/FREE/index.html
They sell culture sheets & I often wonder if they have made any money on
this?
Cheers Wendy

"Kye" wrote in message
...
Any particular online resources you would like to mention?

Cheers
Kye.

"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..
Kye wrote:
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the
species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for
comparison to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.




Me too. But there's no substitute for a good library. Dave Gillingham
sent me articles on Den speciosum that gave me great information on the
varieties for this species and its habitat range. Now I know what to
look for if I ever decide to buy one of these expensive orchids.

There are times I hate waiting for the computer and the different
programs to boot up in order to access information. Sometimes its easier
to look it up in an index or a book like Cribb's checklist to Madagascar
species.

Usually information available online is just the same stuff stolen from
each other. But every now and then there's some good stuff available
online.

K Barrett

Kye,

This is the information that I wish I had (from the point of view of an
amateur grower who does not have a greenhouse and has only 45 orchids, this
would be the kind of info that I wish I had before buying a new orchid

1. picture
2. flower size, number of flowers on average (for example if it is a
mini-catt--is it capable of more than one or two flowers per pseudobulb),
flowering season and whether it is capable of flowering more than once a
year, how long it can be expected to be in flower
3. cultu minimum and maximum light requirements, does it do well in home
or is a greenhouse a must, etc.
4. native habitat and growing habits in the wild (if it is a species) and
ideally pictures of species in native habitat setting
5. if it is a hybrid ideally information on which species went into this
hybrid's genealogy especially if it has very pronounced characteristics that
it inherited from a species parent/grandparent plant
6. what would be extra neat would be information/reviews from growers who
have successfully grown this plant and their tips on the environment that
they grew in (sort of like product reviews at amazon.com)

Best,
Joanna


"Kye" wrote in message
...
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for comparison
to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.

You know what would be neat is to have an orchid online community at
someplace like ning.com. Here's one for crime fiction called 'crimespace'
http://crimespace.ning.com/ When Daniel Hatadi set this up I thought the
idea would never fly. Only 3 people actively participated. But its grown
so that now some real good authors participate and it's got room for
personal pages, personal blogs, members can upload pictures, videos and
there's even a poscast/interview available... Without the baggage that
someplace like Facebook carries.

K Barrett

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:NQ98j.24941$0O1.13765@trnddc05...
Kye,

This is the information that I wish I had (from the point of view of an
amateur grower who does not have a greenhouse and has only 45 orchids,
this would be the kind of info that I wish I had before buying a new
orchid

1. picture
2. flower size, number of flowers on average (for example if it is a
mini-catt--is it capable of more than one or two flowers per pseudobulb),
flowering season and whether it is capable of flowering more than once a
year, how long it can be expected to be in flower
3. cultu minimum and maximum light requirements, does it do well in
home or is a greenhouse a must, etc.
4. native habitat and growing habits in the wild (if it is a species) and
ideally pictures of species in native habitat setting
5. if it is a hybrid ideally information on which species went into this
hybrid's genealogy especially if it has very pronounced characteristics
that it inherited from a species parent/grandparent plant
6. what would be extra neat would be information/reviews from growers who
have successfully grown this plant and their tips on the environment that
they grew in (sort of like product reviews at amazon.com)

Best,
Joanna


"Kye" wrote in message
...
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for
comparison to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.

So would things like a pie graph of species parentage components be
helpful???

Cheers
Kye.


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:NQ98j.24941$0O1.13765@trnddc05...
Kye,

This is the information that I wish I had (from the point of view of an
amateur grower who does not have a greenhouse and has only 45 orchids,
this would be the kind of info that I wish I had before buying a new
orchid

1. picture
2. flower size, number of flowers on average (for example if it is a
mini-catt--is it capable of more than one or two flowers per pseudobulb),
flowering season and whether it is capable of flowering more than once a
year, how long it can be expected to be in flower
3. cultu minimum and maximum light requirements, does it do well in
home or is a greenhouse a must, etc.
4. native habitat and growing habits in the wild (if it is a species) and
ideally pictures of species in native habitat setting
5. if it is a hybrid ideally information on which species went into this
hybrid's genealogy especially if it has very pronounced characteristics
that it inherited from a species parent/grandparent plant
6. what would be extra neat would be information/reviews from growers who
have successfully grown this plant and their tips on the environment that
they grew in (sort of like product reviews at amazon.com)

Best,
Joanna


"Kye" wrote in message
...
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for
comparison to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.

Kye,

I think that might be visually neat, although I don't know how
useful/accurate it would be (isn't it already problematic to say how many
percent of a certain species a hybrid has, I think I recall some discussion
of needing to interpret such data cautiously). And obviously such a pie
graph would only be possible for hybrids that only have a handful of species
in their parentage.

What I think would be most helpful would be a descriptive paragraph
something like this. "This miniature cattleya has inherited the compact
growth habit of linkspecies x/link, and the fragrance and flower texture
from linkspecies y/link. The presence of linkspecies z/link in its
ancestry may account for the lower light levels necessary for this hybrid to
thrive." Obviously such a paragraph may be hard to come by for most hybrids,
but putting this kind of information where it is known would in my opinion
add quite a bit of value.

Best,
Joanna

"Kye" wrote in message
...
So would things like a pie graph of species parentage components be
helpful???

Cheers
Kye.


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:NQ98j.24941$0O1.13765@trnddc05...
Kye,

This is the information that I wish I had (from the point of view of an
amateur grower who does not have a greenhouse and has only 45 orchids,
this would be the kind of info that I wish I had before buying a new
orchid

1. picture
2. flower size, number of flowers on average (for example if it is a
mini-catt--is it capable of more than one or two flowers per pseudobulb),
flowering season and whether it is capable of flowering more than once a
year, how long it can be expected to be in flower
3. cultu minimum and maximum light requirements, does it do well in
home or is a greenhouse a must, etc.
4. native habitat and growing habits in the wild (if it is a species) and
ideally pictures of species in native habitat setting
5. if it is a hybrid ideally information on which species went into this
hybrid's genealogy especially if it has very pronounced characteristics
that it inherited from a species parent/grandparent plant
6. what would be extra neat would be information/reviews from growers who
have successfully grown this plant and their tips on the environment that
they grew in (sort of like product reviews at amazon.com)

Best,
Joanna


"Kye" wrote in message
...
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do you
generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the
species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for
comparison to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.

Another few sample sentences that came to mind, just as an illustration of
the kind of information that would be interesting in my opinion:

"This hybrid was first introduced in 1952 by German grower, .... In the
first x years its awards included .... However, with the introduction of
linkshybrids x and y/links in the 1970s, these hybrids redefined the
standards for award winning in the multi-floral Phal category, and this
hybrid has not been considered an award winner since then. Its perceived
flaws as compared with the newer hybrids include ... This hybrid has been
successfully used in cross-breeding that has resulted in numerous award
winning hybrids, including most notably:[list of a few hybrids with links
to these hybrid's pages]."

or

"This hybrid is the most successful result of the newest hybridization
efforts in Japan. The goals aimed for in this hybrid were ... . Earlier less
successful efforts in achieving the same results included among others the
following hybrids ...[list with links]"

Best,
Joanna

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:mba9j.5787$c82.1269@trnddc01...
Kye,

I think that might be visually neat, although I don't know how
useful/accurate it would be (isn't it already problematic to say how many
percent of a certain species a hybrid has, I think I recall some
discussion of needing to interpret such data cautiously). And obviously
such a pie graph would only be possible for hybrids that only have a
handful of species in their parentage.

What I think would be most helpful would be a descriptive paragraph
something like this. "This miniature cattleya has inherited the compact
growth habit of linkspecies x/link, and the fragrance and flower
texture from linkspecies y/link. The presence of linkspecies
z/link in its ancestry may account for the lower light levels necessary
for this hybrid to thrive." Obviously such a paragraph may be hard to come
by for most hybrids, but putting this kind of information where it is
known would in my opinion add quite a bit of value.

Best,
Joanna

"Kye" wrote in message
...
So would things like a pie graph of species parentage components be
helpful???

Cheers
Kye.


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:NQ98j.24941$0O1.13765@trnddc05...
Kye,

This is the information that I wish I had (from the point of view of an
amateur grower who does not have a greenhouse and has only 45 orchids,
this would be the kind of info that I wish I had before buying a new
orchid

1. picture
2. flower size, number of flowers on average (for example if it is a
mini-catt--is it capable of more than one or two flowers per
pseudobulb), flowering season and whether it is capable of flowering
more than once a year, how long it can be expected to be in flower
3. cultu minimum and maximum light requirements, does it do well in
home or is a greenhouse a must, etc.
4. native habitat and growing habits in the wild (if it is a species)
and ideally pictures of species in native habitat setting
5. if it is a hybrid ideally information on which species went into this
hybrid's genealogy especially if it has very pronounced characteristics
that it inherited from a species parent/grandparent plant
6. what would be extra neat would be information/reviews from growers
who have successfully grown this plant and their tips on the environment
that they grew in (sort of like product reviews at amazon.com)

Best,
Joanna


"Kye" wrote in message
...
OK guys, heres a new thread for you all....

When you are looking for information on a plant, what information do
you generally want to find and in what format.

For myself, if I am looking for information on a plant, the most common
information I want is:

* History of naming (synonyms, taxonomists etc)
* Reference books/journals that have information about that plant
* Description of growth forms and idiosyncrasies of the
species/hybrid
* Photographs of the species and varietals
* Taxanomic description of the type species of the plant for
comparison to the plant which I am looking at
* Flowering season in its native environment

Look forward to your views.

Cheers
Kye.