Hierarchy

This document explains the hierarchy of the plant table. Please make sure that you already read the biology section of the glossary.

Introduction

The plant table contains entries of:

• concrete plants, or
• abstract plants (representants of ranks)

Concrete plants can be:

• dragged and dropped to the map and
• used as seed entry.

Abstract plants can be:

• used to inherit attributes.

A concrete plant can be one of the following ranks:

• on species level, or
• on variety level, or
• on cultivar level.

Furthermore, the following must be true:

• a genus is below a family,
• specie is below a genus,
• a variety is below specie,
• a cultivar is below to a specie or a variety

The diagram below shows the hierarchy of entities with height and width as an example of attribute classification.

classDiagram

  class Family:::abstract {
    +int height
    +int width
  }
  class Genus:::abstract {
    +int height
    +int width
  }
  class Species {
    +int height
    +int width
  }
  class Variety {
    +int height
    +int width
  }
  class Cultivar {
    +int height
    +int width
  }

  Variety <|-- Cultivar
  Species <|-- Cultivar
  Species <|-- Variety
  Genus <|-- Species
  Family <|-- Genus

Each of these entities can have their own attributes. E.g., a variety below specie can have different height than the specie itself.

Unique Name

In the database we have a column unique_name. The unique name is, either for abstract plants:

• single latin word to specify "family", which always ends on: -aceae
• single latin word to specify "genus"

Or is built up by several words (for concrete plants):

• single latin word to specify "genus"
• single latin word to specify "specie"
• optional single latin word to specify "variety"
• optional several words in single quotes to specify "cultivar", which starts with a capital letter

E.g. Brassica oleracea italica 'Ramoso calabrese'

Hybrid Names

Hybrid names are built up differently. Either two parent binomials, separated by an "x" or "×" or a given binomial, with or without an intercalated "×" (see Wikipedia). So the name does not necessarily say if a plant is a hybrid.

There is no special handling of hybrid names necessary, as the hybrid name is stored as the unique name in the database.

Displaying the Unique Name

The unique name of a plant should be displayed as follows:

• Latin name should be displayed in italics.
• The cultivar name should be in regular font, enclosed in single quotes (as stored in the database).

For example: Brassica oleracea italica 'Ramoso calabrese'

The unique name alone usually is not displayed.

Displaying the Complete Name

The complete name of a plant should be displayed as follows:

• If there is a common name, the common name appears first and should start with a capital letter (e.g., "tomato" becomes "Tomato").
• If it is a plant name from the seed database, the name continues with hyphen - and the additional name.
• This is followed by the unique name in brackets, unique name as described above in Unique Name.

The general format is:

Common name - additional name (unique name)

In cases where the common name is not available in the current language, it should be displayed as:

unique name - additional name

The cultivar is a part of the unique name.

For example (assuming Brassica oleracea italica doesn't have a common name):

• Italian broccoli - violett (Brassica oleracea italica 'Ramoso calabrese')
• Italian broccoli - violett (Brassica oleracea italica)
• Italian broccoli (Brassica oleracea italica)
• Brassica oleracea italica 'Ramoso calabrese' - violett
• Brassica oleracea italica 'Ramoso calabrese'
• Brassica oleracea italica - violett
• Brassica oleracea italica

Displaying the Short Name

The short name should be displayed as follows:

• Common name or, if common name is not available, the unique name as described above in Unique Name.
• If additional name is available, - and the additional name should be appended.

For example (assuming Abies mariesii and Brassica oleracea italica don't have common names):

• Tomato - Gelbe Birne
• Abies mariesii
• Brassica oleracea italica 'Ramoso calabrese' - violett

Displaying the Group Name

The group name should be displayed as follows:

• Same format (short name/complete name) as a single plant.
• However, parts of the name should be omitted based on the hierarchy laid out in Introductions if that part or a part above it is not common among all grouped plants.

For example:

• two fully matching plants → full unique name and additional name is displayed
• two mostly matching plants (mismatched cultivar) → only cultivar is omitted
• two barely matching plants (matching family) → only family is displayed
• two distinct plants → no parts of the unique name or additional name are displayed

Usage of Plant Names

• The short name is for overviews, e.g., when you see all labels in the map editor at once (plant labels).
• The complete name should always be given if the user wants to know precisely which plant she is dealing with, e.g.:
  • when the mouse is hovering over a plant in the plant layer,
  • in search results or
  • in plant details (left bottom toolbar).
• The additional name must always be added if a plant is connected with a seed.
• The group name should always be given if information about multiple plants is grouped together, like e.g., the plant details.

Rules

We know about names (abstract and concrete, including hybrid):

• If it contains more than one word, it is a concrete plant.
• If it contains only one word, it is an abstract plant (family or genus).
• All entries with two words are specie (de: Art),
• All entries with three or more words are either:
  • variety (de: Varietät) if all is spelled italic, or
  • cultivar (de: Sorte) if the last part of the name (can be more than one word!) is not latin, not italic, is in 'single quotes'
• All entries with a single x between the words are hybrid. We treat them like specie.

Inserting Relations

When inserting, family, genus, specie and variety must be treated in a way that they also include all entries below in the hierarchy. Important is that the processing is from most generic to most specific, so that specific entries overwrite generic entries.

Attributes

Columns are documented in their respective structs.

We prefer strongly typed data, e.g.:

• enums
• array of enums
• numbers

Columns that contain text should be suffixed with:

• _en for English text
• _de for German text

As we often copy data from other sources, we maintain the following columns for external references:

• external_source: an array from enum where the first entry is the "main source" the other columns refer to:
• external_id: an identifier of that source
• external_url: the URL from where the data was taken

Plants are additionally classified as:

• is_concrete_plant (is a concrete plant as opposite to an abstract plant)
• is_tree (as search help within the tree layer)

from Permapeople

The following columns are removed:

• environment (and its references)
• type and is_variety, as variety is now determined from the name (rank to be calculated from name, see above)
• wildflower
• plants_of_the_world_online_name_synonym (redundant to link)
• dutch_name, danish_name, french_name
• when_to_harvest
• propagation_cuttings
• alternate_scientific_name
• hortipedia
• invasive_in
• years_to_bear
• useful_tropical_plants
• thinning
• light_tolerance
• chill_hours, beef_tomato, invasive
• folder_name (at least in DB)
• native_climate_zones
• adapted_climate_zones
• propagation_direct_sowing

Other minor problems:

• fix Labiatae to be lamiaceae (family rank)
• Remove all "var." from the database entries (staying with the three words).

from Reinsaat

Unique name:

• use Scientific name subheading together with name (as cultivar, see above) for our unique_name (Cucurbita ssp. from Scientific name kulturhinweise shouldn't exist)
• Remove all occurrences of L., MIll., and var..
• Entries on Reinsaat that are spelled like "Brassica oleracea convar. botrytis var. italica" https://www.reinsaat.at/shop/EN/brassica/broccoli/limba/ exist in our database as "Brassica oleracea italica". Add the Reinsaat entry to our database in a different row with the following nomenclature: Brassica oleracea italica 'Limba', with Brassica oleracea italica as parent, by following rules:
  • Remove the term "convar." and its following word.
  • Remove the "ssp." and its following word.
• The name maps to cultivar (de: Sorte), i.e., a rank below variety and is expressed in non-latin words, such as 'Limba'. In our database, we want them:
  • back together in one name (the unique name, as described above) e.g., Brassica oleracea italica 'Limba' or Malus domestica 'Gala'.
  • with a link to the variety, if present, otherwise species

Individual problems:

• Daucus carota L. ssp. sativus --> Daucus carota sativus
• Petroselinum crispum ssp. tuberosum --> Petroselinum crispum tuberosum
• Papaver somnif. var. paeonifl. --> Papaver somniferum paeoniflorum
• Alcea rosea fl. pl. --> Alcea rosea flore pleno
• Campanula lat. macr. --> Campanula latifolia macrantha
• Malva sylvestris ssp. maur. --> Malva sylvestris mauritiana
• Sonnenblume, Velvet Queen: None should be Helianthus annuus

Further Readings

• The Rationale is explained in this decision.