Plants For A Future - Database Search

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Would you like to use the database at home? You can download a copy of the database or get a copy on CD-ROM.

Either:

On other pages

If you still want more there is:

If you have any problems with the database or any suggested improvement please mail me at webmaster@pfaf.org


Search by Name

Enter any of the following. No wild cards are allowed but you can enter part of a name and the search is case insensitive. For example a Latin name of salix will find all the willows. Sometimes names may be spelt differently, or the number of spaces may be different; in such cases try using a shorter name. For example instead of 'seabuckthorn' try 'sea' or 'buckthorn'.

Latin Name
Common Name
Family
Rating 5 = Very Useful (141 plants), 4 = Pretty Useful (612), 3 = Useful (1925),
2 = Marginal Use (4279), 1 = Specialist Use Only (all 7389 plants)


Search by Use

Select any of the following uses. Or select none and use the plant criteria below.

Edible Use Medicinal Use Other Use
Help Help  Disclaimer Help

Special Uses: Nitrogen fixer: Attracts Wildlife: Ground Cover: Hedge: Scented Plants:

Rating: (How useful we think the plant is.) 5 (Best) 4 3 2 1

Only show matching genera: .


Search by native geographical range

You can select any of the following areas for where the plant is found in the wild. Areas marked with a * are less than reliable, also many plants are just listed as being from Britain. Some of range information has come from the Ethnobotany Database.

You might like to look at the list of Native Ranges for some pre-canned queries.

Britain
All Native Naturalised Introduced
Europe
All N S E W C SW
Scandinavia* Balkans*
Africa
All N W* C S
Middle East
All Turkey Iraq Iran
West Asia
All Russia* Afganistan* Turkistan* Caucusus*
East Asia
All N NE SE Himalayas
India Japan Korea Siberia Tibet* Nepal* Pakistan*
China N (inc. Mongolia)* S* E* W* C* Manchuria (NE China)*
North America
All N S E W C NE NW SE SW
Canada Alaska* Greenland*
Central America
All Mexico
South America
All N S W C
Chile* Agrentina* Brazil* Peru*
Australia
All New South Wales Northern Territories Queensland South Australia Tasmania Western Australia Victoria
Other
New Zealand
Mediterranean
West Indies
Other Islands
Other
Tropics*
Hybrid
Cultivar
Uncertain
Show description of native range . Only show matching genera: . Help on native areas.

Rating: (How useful we think the plant is.) 5 (Best) 4 3 2 1


Search by Habitat

Woodland (Plants that grow in a woodland)   Canopy (Tall trees)   Secondary (Not so tall trees)
Hedge (Plants that can be used for hedging)   Hedgerow (Plants that grow in hedgerows)
Meadow    Lawn    Pond    Bog Garden    Cultivated Beds
Walls: By In   North: By In   South: By In   East: By In   West: By In

Show all possible habitats . Show textual description of habitats . Only show matching genera: .

Rating: (How useful we think the plant is.) 5 (Best) 4 3 2 1

The page of Canned Queries has some other habitats you can search for.


Search for a particular Word

You can search either the whole database or a particular field for a particular word. Note this could be SLOW. No wild-cards are allowed, but substring will be found and the search is case insensitive. You can either leave the Search Type as 'Exact match of substring' where the exact phrase must be found or set it to 'Any of the words', 'All of the words' or 'Field containing all of the word'. Words are separated by spaces.
Word or phrase
Field
Search type

The following fields all have textual descriptions: Edible Uses, Medicinal Uses, Other Uses, Range, Habitat, Known Hazards, Cultivation Details and Propagation. The others either have short strings or single letter keys, they are probably best searched using the tables above.

If you want to search for an exact string you can use '_' to represent spaces or punctuation. For example 'red' would match 'sheltered', 'reduce' and 'red'; '_red' will match 'reduce' and 'red'; 'red_' will match 'sheltered' and 'red'; and '_red_' will match just 'red'. Hence to find red inks you could use '_red_ _ink_' with a Search Type of 'Field containing all of the word'. You can also use the underscore notation when searching for Latin names, i.e. '_x' will find plants with Latin names beginning 'X'.

The Canned Queries, Edible Uses, Medicinal Uses, Other Uses and Native Ranges pages have some ready made queries you can use.


Many thanks to the ibiblio at UNC for providing the web space.


Back to PFAF home page.  Database Intro  Help  Bibliography  UK Mirror  Australian Mirror 

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database.
Copyright (c) 1997-2001. Last Update: Feb 2002.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page
Plants for a Future, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK.
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