What this Website Does
Lists of scientific names for plants are compared with scientific names from authoritative sources. When a name is not found the name is tested to see if it is almost the same as an actual scientific name to check for typographical errors. Names that are found are checked to see if the name is current. Older names can be converted to the currently accepted name. A report is made showing problems found in the submitted list. Finally, a corrected list is produced. To operate the program you should "cut" the list of names you wish to check and "paste" this list into the text box. Then click the submit button. The program is not very fast. It reads large files, even for a small input list. When many words have typographic errors the program will be slower.
The Report
After entering a list of scientific plant names the program produces a report like the example on the right. Names that have been misspelled are listed in the Typographical Errors section. To make it easier to spot the error the first character that differs is displayed in red. Names that have been changed from an old form to an accepted form are listed in the New Names section. Names that are not recognized as a scientific name are listed in the Unrecognized Names section. In the example, Abronica unknown is not a scientific name. The corrected name list is then displayed. Names in green are names that have been checked and found to be correct. The black text after the scientific name is the portion of the original list that has not been examined by the program. Names in red are things that were not recognized as a scientific name. Names in blue are names that have been corrected. When an older name has been updated the original name is (optionally) shown within parentheses.
Input Style
The program accepts scientific names that contain a genus followed by a species. If the next word is 'var.' or 'ssp.' then the program looks for a variation or subspecies name. Some people have been leaving out 'var.' and 'ssp.' because these words are basically interchangeable. If the second input style is selected the program will accept a variety or subspecies name immediately after the species name.
Regional Scientific Name Style
Each area has a local authority for names and people within that area tend to use the names selected by that authority. By selecting a region the program reads in a list of names and synonyms provided by that authority. Plant lists often include plants imported from other regions. To accommodate this you can select the "Use ITIS names." The ITIS plants database will be used when a plant name is not found in the regional database. If the "Accept Binomial Name" box is checked your binomial name will be accepted when a trinomial name (those with var. or ssp.) appears in the database. For example, Pluchea odorata will be an accepted name when the database contains Pluchea odorata var. odorata.
Output Name Style
You can select three styles of names in the scientific name list produced by the program. When selecting binomial names the program will delete any subspecies or variety name. By default, the program puts colors on the scientific name list. But you can select a black and white version if you wish to cut the name list and past it into a document that knows about color. For plain text editors you can cut the color version and when you do the past operation the color is automatically removed.
Operations to be Performed
These options let you skip the spelling check or the name conversion. New names in the plant list typically are followed by the original name in parentese but you can disable this.
Caveats
Currently, names with the cross symbol (or letter "x") between two scientific names are not treated correctly. Words that mistakenly have an extra space (perhaps where a hyphen should be) are not treated correctly. The first letter must be upper case for a scientific name to be recognized. All other letters must be lower case. If the spelling error is in either of the first two characters the program will not be able to correct it.
Data Sources
The name WTU refers to the University of Washington Herbarium at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Plant name data is from their Washington Flora Checklist downloaded on 7/16/2013.
Oregon plant names and synonyms are obtained from the Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist and they ask that it be sited as: Cook, Thea and Scott Sundberg, eds. 2011. Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist. http://www.oregonflora.org/checklist.php. Version [1-4]. Accessed [30-1-2015].
California plant names and synonyms are obtained from The Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley. The names and synonyms were obtained from "eFlora" by using tool #7 at this URL. They ask that it be sited as: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2020. Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/ [accessed on Aug 29, 2020].
The eFloras.org names come from the Flora of North America index which starts on this page. They ask that it be sited as: 'eFloras (2008). Published on the Internet http://www.efloras.org accessed 4 July 2013' Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
The SEINet names come from the Southwest Environmental Information Network Image Library name list on this page accessed on October 18, 2013.
The name ITIS refers to Integrated Taxonomic Information Systems and their website at http://www.itis.gov/. Plant names and synonyms were downloaded on 1/30/2015.