The Electronic Media Page

Digital Floristic Synthesis of North America

Diskettes for Windows 95 or 3.1, produduced by the Biota of North America Program, University of North Carolina

Thirty-six thousand (36,000) species are included in this monumental new computer version of the standard plant reference for U.S. federal agencies: the Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada and Greenland by Dr. John T. Kartesz. The computer version, however, contains much more information than the printed version.


This PC/Windows computer program provides plant nomenclature, taxonomy, geography, morphology and other information distilled from nearly 300 years of North American vascular plant systematic research. Linking nearly 500,000 records of plant distributions, this software enables taxonomists, horticulturalists, nurserymen, foresters, plant and wildlife managers, ecologists and others to produce species checklists and distribution summaries, and assessments of species morphology, species rarity, species endemism, species nativity, etc.


Plants can be selected by scientific and common names or by choosing any of 45 biological attributes. The user-friendly systems permits complicated Boolean operations to be performed with the click of a mouse, and displays the results graphically as distribution maps.


Though originally advertised as four products, the producers have decided to include all parts on a single CD. The single CD is for sale for $495.00.


Lexicon
The Lexicon enables users to show immediate relationships between taxa at various ranks and to produce listings of all plant names in current use. This product uses the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature for spelling and orthography.

Floristic Atlas
The Atlas displays state level distribution maps for 28,000 accepted taxa, allowing the maps to be printed in publication-quality format, black and white or color. Zoom capabilities will permit county-level and even site-specific data to be added to future editions of the Atlas. A county data update is planned to be released in the summer of 1998.

Biological Attributes
This includes up to 45 biological attributes for each of the 36,000 species, including morphology and other specialized data, such as rarity, weediness, insectivory, habit, habitat, trophic levels, duration, medicinal value, forage and range values, toxicity, etc.


For more information on the Synthesis, click here: http://www.bonap.org/synth.html


Order from North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 3375, Totten Center, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3375. 919/962-0578. http://www.bonap.org/order.html


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