Explanation of fields

Explanation of the Flora of Texas database

This database provides specimen label data from the University of Texas herbaria (TEX and LL). Almost all specimens were checked by Dr. B. L. Turner for correct identification and nomenclature. Essentially all Texas specimens in the TEX and LL herbaria have been databased and are available for searching, with the exception of some specimens out on loan and very recent accessions. Texas type specimens are not included but are available separately at the TEX/LL type database (for an explanation of the TEX-LL type database, click here.) A small number of species/county records were inadvertently skipped early in the database project; this problem will be corrected in the future. Questions about this or any problem may be directed to the email address given below.

Data from over 191,000 specimens are now entered (May 2008). Reaching this level has involved the work of many people. Dr. Beryl Simpson and Dr. Carol Todzia secured funding. Dr. B. L. Turner reviewed all Texas material for correct identification and nomenclature, and many student workers helped in the subsequent annotation of the specimens, especially Kellie Kutach, Kathy Loh, Kellie Pai, and Laurel Klein. Especially to be thanked are the fine and careful databasers, many of them graduate or undergraduate students, here listed in rough order of the number of specimens databased [as of 5/2008]: over 50,000 specimens, Krista Jenkins; over 30,000, Marjorie Epler; 13,000-20,000, Anne Van Nest, Jennifer Tate, Grace Chow, Heidi Meudt; up to 10,000, Kellie Pai, Kathryn Turner, Andrea Weeks, Leah Larkin, Emily Hueske, Michael Aiuvalasit, Joanne Birch, Annie Van Zant, Cynthia Fung, Martin Timana. Day-to-day coordination and data editing was originally handled by Carol Todzia and now Tom Wendt, and some data editing by Jennifer Tate.

Fields available for browsing are mostly self-explanatory. A few pointers follow:

Search fields are in the "contained in" format. This means that the search engine will find all records that contain the requested text, whether or not other text is also present in that field. This is generally useful, but can occasionally produce undesired results: for instance, a search for "Roberts" in the county field will return records for both Roberts and Robertson counties. To avoid this, the "=" can be used to request an "exact match". A search for "=Roberts" in the county field will return only records from Roberts county.
Collection date - For searching this needs to be in a mm/dd/yyyy format, e.g. 12/25/1997.
Other Date - This field includes date data that are not exact, e.g. "June, 1849", "1922" or "Sept 11-18, 1959."
Month - Searches may be performed to find all specimens collected in a given month. Enter the full name of the month. Caution: some records ( those in which the data on the original label did not specify an exact date) will not be included.
Phenology - This field must be taken " with a grain of salt." Many of the databasers have not been trained in botany and cannot accurately assess the phenological stage of a specimen in the more difficult families. For instance, most grass specimens have been coded "flowering and fruiting" as the default.
Latitude and Longitude Coordinates in the latitude and longitude fields, when present, are those given on the specimen label by the collector. Exception: A small pilot project was undertaken to georeference the Nueces and Zapata county specimens "by hand", using an on-line topographical map web site (the now-disappeared Topozone) to estimate coordinates and elevations based on the label data provided on 2363 specimens (Giovanna Romero did this work in summer of 2006.) Specimens for which this was done are not specifically indicated as such in the on-line database, but are generally distinguishable because they are from one of the counties mentioned and the latitude and longitude are presented entirely as degrees to the ten-thousandth place (e.g., 27.6738) rather than degrees/minutes/seconds. Complete documentation of this project is present in an off-line version of the database and is available through the curator. Geographical coordinates included in the label data that use other systems (for instance, UTM) are included directly in the locality field.

Two different options for output of search results are available:

Full-data ("Classic") version: output of search results is presented in extremely condensed form, listed 25 specimens at a time, and complete specimen data can then be obtained one specimen at a time from that list.

Slightly condensed, more easily printable version: output is listed 25 specimens at a time with most but not all data in a condensed format. This format is best when a list of specimens is to be printed.

If the taxon you are searching for appears to get no results, click here to look for alternative names under which to search.

For more detailed search options, contact the Plant Resources Center.

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