Help for Using the Global Plant Checklist

Query the Database

Click on the Query button and then enter the name you are looking for (sorry,no common names yet). After entering data, click on Submit Query. A list of names is displayed if any matches exist in the database. To get detailed information, click on the name.

Source entries and (partly) edited entries

For each name of a species (or infraspecific taxon if present), there can be several entries in the Checklist. The edited (or partially edited) view of the name gives you an expert coordinated single entry for the respective name. However, there may be several entries of original data for the same name. The query will always lead you to a coordinated (edited) entry, if there is one present. You can use the button labelled "View source dataset(s)" to do just that. The three levels (source, partly edited, fully edited) are defined as follows:

Source record - This represents the data for each taxon name as submitted by a contributor, with acknowledgement of source added. As data for a name may be added from various sources, several source records may exist for any given name. The output for the separate source records is united on a single page.

Partly edited record - An edited entry which represent a current experts view on the name. However, for one or more reasons (e.g. incomplete distribution information or taxonomic problems) the record is not yet considered a final checklist entry.

Fully edited record - The entry is fully botanically edited by the specialists working on that family, i.e. the taxonomic and geographic data have all been checked for that taxon name, and the entry consists of a single record (again with editors' names added).