Plant identification mock-up

Here is a quick mock up of how you might make the plant identification idea work:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. ***** I have shrunk the image to one that is 400 pixels wide, so that people can still easily see what it looks like. You could include a comment or two about the plant, ask some questions and look for feedback. Some descriptive words in the Tags field would also help. People could then join in and post ideas and thoughts via the comments facility for each discussion post, and the original author of the post can go back in and update it based on the comments that have been left. Rinse and repeat for other plants by starting a new discussion under the plant identification category.

Replies

Sefton Paine February 2, 2009 at 5:38pm

I think this has the opportunity to become quite an interesting project over time. I have a little problem with publications and websites as they seem to have too strong a bias based on how a plant looks in a garden. I am absolutely fascinated by the diversity of plants and see each plant as a character and that is maybe how this could work. We could look at the genera, commercial aspects, origins, habit, outstanding features, photos of the seed head and seed, the dormant stage...of each plant, with everyone putting in their two dollar. It is a project I know Craig, but I think it could be something which truely fascinates me and I have not seen anything quite like it on the web or in publications.
PRO

Craig McGinty February 2, 2009 at 6:14pm

Hi Sefton,

I'd just try a few things out here on the site, maybe with a bit of a page template that features the elements you mention.

Individual discussion posts for individual plants will make it easier to manage and other users of the site will soon pick up the reins and overtime you will develop a growing reference point.

I suppose it could be a bit of a Wikipedia for plant identification ;-)

All the best,
Craig