Nomenclature (Left Side of Screen)

Blue Bar (Across Top of Screen) 

Synonyms and Infrataxa: There are two options for displaying synonyms of accepted names, checklist and thesaurus formats. To choose one, simply click the format you wish to engage for the synonym drop-down list. Checklist Format shows all synonyms alphabetically beneath the accepted name, while Thesaurus Format shows both synonyms and accepted names in alphabetical order.

You may hide the infraspecific taxa (varietis and subspecies) from the “Species” column by selecting “Hide Infraspecific Taxa” option.

Author Citations: To show authors for all generic and infrageneric names, select ‘Show Authors’ from the ‘Authors’ drop-down list. Author names will appear in the ‘Nomenclature Query’ window, after the taxonomic names. To hide authors, select ‘Hide Authors’. By default, the Query Page hides authors for all taxa.

Common Names: To show common names for all families, genera and species, select ‘Show Common Names’ from the ‘Common Names’ drop-down list. Common names will appear in the ‘Nomenclature Query’ window, following their scientific counterpart. To hide common names, select ‘Hide Common Names’ from the drop-down box. By default, common names are hidden.

Taxa per page: This drop-down box limits the number of scientific names displayed in the ‘Species’ column. By default, it is set at 1500 names. To change the number of taxa displayed, select the desired number from the drop-down list. NOTE: Selecting 5500 results per page may delay loading time.

Nomenclature Query Panels: The three columns display all named taxa contained within BONAP’s Taxonomic Data Center. To navigate up or down a given taxonomic rank window, use the scrollbars located on the right side of each window. The scrollbar located at the bottom of each window allows viewing of names that exceed the window width.  It is also possible to search for a specific family, genus or species by entering the first three or more letters of the name into the blue search box atop each of the three columns; then press “Enter”.

Phytogeography and Morphology (Right Side of Screen)

Blue Bar (Across Top of Screen) 

State-level Query Map: The large buckskin-colored map is used for querying lists of plants for any U.S. state or Canadian province, etc. By selecting any U.S. state or equivalent, a list of all taxa reported for that location will appear within the ‘Species’ window.

Zip-code/County Query: To search by ZIP code, for any location within the U.S., enter the ZIP code into the text box and click “Run query.” Alternatively, to search by county, first select the U.S. state in which that county is found from the ‘Select State’ drop-down box, then select the county in the “Select County” drop-down box. Whether you query by zip-code or by U.S. county, results will appear within the “Species” column. 

Family Identification Key

To key an unknown plant to family, select the morphological selections that match most closely those of your unknown plant. To view the full list of morphologies for a given character, click that character to view its contents. Once the morphologies for a given character are displayed, click the character states that best match your plant. Note: Every character state selected from the family key box will appear at the bottom of the screen in the ‘Selected Items’ box. To run a query for the morphologies that you have selected, click the green ‘Run query’ button at the bottom of the ‘Family Key’ box. To clear all character states and morphologies or to remove erroneously entered attributes, click the red ‘Clear all selections’ button at the bottom of the ‘Family Key’ box. For more information and detailed instructions see: Understanding the Keying Process. NOTE: To score a character, use the left mouse-button to select that character. Clicking a second time will remove the character. To see all the characters you have scored, scroll to the “Selected Characters” section at the bottom of the window.

Biological Attributes Key:

To key a plant by its biological attributes, select the morphological selections that match most closely those of your unknown plant. To view the full list of morphologies for a given character, click that character to view its contents. Once the morphologies for a given character are displayed, click those that best match your plant. Note: Every attribute selected from the biological attributes box will appear at the bottom of the screen in the ‘Selected Items’ box. To run a query of the attributes that you have selected, click the green ‘Run query’ button at the bottom of the ‘Biological Attributes’ box. To clear all attributes or to remove erroneously entered attributes, click the red ‘Clear all selections’ button at the bottom of the ‘Biological Attributes’ box. For more information and detailed instructions see: Understanding the Keying Process. NOTE: To score a character, use the left mouse-button to select that character. Clicking a second time will remove the character. To see all the characters you have scored, scroll to the “Selected Characters” section at the bottom of the window.

Interactive Data Fields

Note that all queries of both the biological attributes, and family key characters are interactive with each other, and also interactive with the state-level map, county-level and zip code data. For example, to view Pennsylvania trees, with white flowers, click Pennsylvania on the State-Level Query Map, then select tree and white flower from the morphology section of the Biological Attributes Key. Note: The selection order of characters is irrelevant. Also note that all taxonomic selections are also interactive with biological attributes and family characters and character states and phytogeography. For example, to see which Trillium species occur in Maine and have white flowers, first select Trillium from the genus column, then select Maine from the query map, then select white flowers from the morphology section of the biological attributes. The order in which these characters are selected is irrelevant. Note that all of your selections are listed at the bottom of the page in the Selected Items panel. Also notice, as each selection is queried, the number of remaining entries appears atop of each nomenclature column. NOTE: To score a character, use the left mouse-button to select that character. Clicking a second time will remove the character. To see all the characters you have scored, scroll to the “Selected Characters” section at the bottom of the window.

Selected Items

This window, which appears at the bottom of the TDC, shows the selected queries of the current session of applications.