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LINKS TO MORE REFERENCE INFORMATION

3. About Plants

N.B. These days, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, can be recommended as a general subject search tool e.g. try "Aluka" or "Plant Conservation".

Plant Information Search	Electronic Plant Information Centre Kew's ePIC provides a single search across Kew's major specimen, bibliographic and taxonomic databases on the Internet, including the Kew Bibliographic Database (KBD) (replacing the Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature) and the International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Try looking at all of the validly-published species names in the genus Adromischus found in IPNI. African Plants Database From SANBI & the Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de Genève, a plant name database with distribution maps. The SA maps are based upon herbarium specimens in the PRECIS database. (See also SANBI's Plants of Southern Africa (POSA) Database). Internet Directory for Botany This is a searchable alphabetical list of botanical web sites. It is written by botanists, rather than a commercial search organisation.
Herbarium Search	Aluka is an international initiative to build an on-line digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa. One focus is the African Plants Initiative to store and distribute digital images of dried plant herbarium sheets, particularly type specimens. Materials are being contributed by over 100 partner institutions around the world, including the Compton, Bolus and Pretoria Herbaria in South Africa; Kew and the Natural History Museum in London. First released in Feb 2007, it currently contains more than 275,000 objects and returns over 100 items when searched about Adromischus. Alas, non-participating users are only permitted to see small thumbnails of the images and even that may cease after 30th Jun 2008. Occasional Adromischus sheets can be found on other major herbarium web sites e.g. Paris or the Netherlands. See this list from the Virtual Herbarium.
Plant Conservation	Global Strategy for Plant Conservation The big picture for plant conservation! The GSPC is a framework to harmonise existing plant conservation initiatives, to identify gaps where new initiatives are required, and to mobilize the necessary resources. The (easily readable) Strategy includes five goals, expressed as sixteen, outcome-oriented, global targets set for 2010. To help nations meet the targets, a consortium of international and national plant and conservation agencies form the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation with their own Plants2010 web site. Will the UK meet these targets? Will any government meet these ambitious targets? Botanic Gardens Conservation International BGCI was founded in 1987 to link botanic gardens as a co-operating global network for effective plant conservation. It now links over 2500 institutions in over 120 countries, all working together to preserve and promote plant diversity for people and the planet. Convention on Biological Diversity At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders agreed a strategy for "sustainable development" - the CBD. This pact among the vast majority of the world's governments, sets out commitments for maintaining the world's natural ecology as we go about the business of economic development. The Convention establishes three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources. IUCN The World Conservation Union, through its Species Survival Commission (SSC), has for more than four decades been assessing the conservation status of plant & animal species on a global scale. Taxa threatened with extinction are evaluated using the IUCN Categories and Criteria and highlighted in the IUCN Red List. The list provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information and thus promotes their conservation. Here is the South African Plant Red List on-line.
Plant Trade	CITES The aim of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is to ensure that cross-border trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Although Adromischus is not listed (see FAQ 2), a number of cacti & succulent plants are on Appendix I and their trade is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. All other cacti & many more succulents are on Appendix II and monitored & controlled. EU Trade Regulations Official information about the European Union and the CITES regulations which apply to the UK, including lists of restricted plant species. For South African plant trade requirements, see FAQ 13 .
Membership Societies	Royal Horticultural Society The RHS is the UK's largest horticultural organisation with over 330,000 members. Publishes "The Garden" and "The Plantsman" magazines. Web site contains an on-line Plant or Garden Finder and much more. National Council for the Conservation of Plants & Gardens For over 25 years, the NCCPG has been the UK's leading cultivated plant conservation charity with 5,000 members. It supports over 600 National Plant Collections® for ex-situ conservation. One web page provides usable definitions of "genus", "species" and "cultivar". Plantlife The UK's wild plant conservation charity.
Plant Term Glossaries	The Dictionary of Botanical Epithets is a large compilation of the meaning of Latin species names. A glossary with over a thousand succulent-oriented terms is part of The Succulent Plant Page. The GardenWeb Glossary contains over 4,400 botanical terms. Or try Google Definitions for a range of answers from the Internet.
Botanical Latin	International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) The rules for wild plant taxonomy (2006 Vienna Code) on-line. International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants This page (from the ISHS) gives links for the "Cultivated Plant Code", 7th Edition (not available on-line?) and "How to Name a Cultivar" at the bottom. Botanical Latin Translation Assistant (TRANSLAT) Tool for PC computer translation of botanical Latin texts e.g. plant descriptions. Latin Dictionaries The general Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid and Latin Dictionary Words are also available "to help a beginning Latin student or amateur in simple translations".