Hey, everyone!
My name is Tristan and I've been in the hobby for ~10 years or so. Despite my deep passion in aquatic botany and ecology, I am not a scientist! That title resides with my wife...
I am simply a plant enthusiast who is fascinated with the sciences that revolve around plants. I've been a lurker on the Barrreport, APC, TPT, etc. Though, I've never really posted. It's time to change that.
With that being said.... Hello, ScapeCrunch!
Now, I've had this idea in my head for quite awhile and thought it was time to publicly share it... Here it goes.
My plan is to build a digital reference-grade "living" herbarium and verification archive for uncommon/rare plants that circulate in our hobby. Though, I'll have a focus on the family Eriocaulaceae (Syngonanthus and Eriocaulon in particuliar). They're often referred to as a taxonomic nightmare so that family will be interesting. DNA barcoding may be required later down the line...
The system will be built around flowering verification- species are only confirmed once they flower and can be matched against official taxonomy.
Every plant will be classified into one of four categories:
Verified Species: Flowering has occurred, and the inflorescence and floral structures match an accepted species in official scientific references (POWO, IPNI, protologues, regional floras).
Provisional Variant: A plant that appears to align with a known taxon based on vegetative traits, but has not flowered yet or has incomplete verification. These remain unconfirmed identifications until flowering provides diagnostic evidence.
Grower-Named Cultivar: A horticultural form that has been informally stabilized in cultivation (consistent traits across multiple generations), but flowering is not required for its recognition. Some may have flowered, but their flowers do not necessarily match a valid species in the literature. Instead, they are under a trade name (e.g., “Syngonanthus sp. ‘Manaus’”).
Unknown ID: Material that cannot be confidently assigned, often because it has not flowered or shows traits that don’t match known taxa or established cultivars. These remain in limbo until flowering provides diagnostic evidence.
The archive will document accepted names, synonyms, diagnostic traits, distribution, taxonomic history, and cultivation notes, all cited from trusted sources like POWO, IPNI, protologues, digitized herbarium sheets, and regional floras. Each accession is logged with provenance, generation, and flowering records. The goal being: to form a transparent, living dataset. I'll use a GitHub repository as the master record for version control and long-term preservation, and a website to display profiles.
TL;DR -- to create a “living herbarium”, if you will. A collection that is also a public reference system to raise the standard of transparency in the hobby by establishing a flowering-based, literature-backed taxonomy database for hobbyist plants!
My name is Tristan and I've been in the hobby for ~10 years or so. Despite my deep passion in aquatic botany and ecology, I am not a scientist! That title resides with my wife...
I am simply a plant enthusiast who is fascinated with the sciences that revolve around plants. I've been a lurker on the Barrreport, APC, TPT, etc. Though, I've never really posted. It's time to change that.With that being said.... Hello, ScapeCrunch!
Now, I've had this idea in my head for quite awhile and thought it was time to publicly share it... Here it goes.
My plan is to build a digital reference-grade "living" herbarium and verification archive for uncommon/rare plants that circulate in our hobby. Though, I'll have a focus on the family Eriocaulaceae (Syngonanthus and Eriocaulon in particuliar). They're often referred to as a taxonomic nightmare so that family will be interesting. DNA barcoding may be required later down the line...
The system will be built around flowering verification- species are only confirmed once they flower and can be matched against official taxonomy.
Every plant will be classified into one of four categories:
Verified Species: Flowering has occurred, and the inflorescence and floral structures match an accepted species in official scientific references (POWO, IPNI, protologues, regional floras).
Provisional Variant: A plant that appears to align with a known taxon based on vegetative traits, but has not flowered yet or has incomplete verification. These remain unconfirmed identifications until flowering provides diagnostic evidence.
Grower-Named Cultivar: A horticultural form that has been informally stabilized in cultivation (consistent traits across multiple generations), but flowering is not required for its recognition. Some may have flowered, but their flowers do not necessarily match a valid species in the literature. Instead, they are under a trade name (e.g., “Syngonanthus sp. ‘Manaus’”).
Unknown ID: Material that cannot be confidently assigned, often because it has not flowered or shows traits that don’t match known taxa or established cultivars. These remain in limbo until flowering provides diagnostic evidence.
The archive will document accepted names, synonyms, diagnostic traits, distribution, taxonomic history, and cultivation notes, all cited from trusted sources like POWO, IPNI, protologues, digitized herbarium sheets, and regional floras. Each accession is logged with provenance, generation, and flowering records. The goal being: to form a transparent, living dataset. I'll use a GitHub repository as the master record for version control and long-term preservation, and a website to display profiles.
TL;DR -- to create a “living herbarium”, if you will. A collection that is also a public reference system to raise the standard of transparency in the hobby by establishing a flowering-based, literature-backed taxonomy database for hobbyist plants!
Last edited:
Appreciate it, man!
