There are two main products in development at the moment. Both are oriented towards providing plant information.
The Plants Directory: Volume 1, Northeast NSW.
The Orchidopaedia: Volume 1 - Genera information.
I must advise that our software is only available on CD rom, and currently is being produced for Windows, Macintosh and DOS machines. The minimum requirements are a 2x CDrom and a system running a browser of HTML version 3 or better, with Java enabled. This is a pretty much the standard setup for Windows9x and WindowsNT. Windows 3.1 users should obtain the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer for your system. It is unlikely that you are not already suitably equipped if you are viewing this page.
The Plants Directory: If you want to view more about this disc, please click anywhere on this line.
If you want to view more about this disc, please click anywhere on this line.
If you want to go to the order form, please click anywhere on this line.
Volume 1, Northeast NSW.
A series of framed pages presenting information about all the vascular plants occurring in the northeastern part of New South Wales. That is the NSW North Coast, Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes botanical subdivisions - an area bounded by a line west from Newcastle to the Warrumbungles, then north along the Newell Highway to the Queensland border.
In total, the second edition has in excess of 7000 pages of information.
At least 4750 distinct taxa (species and subspecies) are covered: 970 are naturalised non-locals, the balance are indigenous native species. The text is presentated for each species under the general headings of » plant description,
If relevant, there are also topics covering
» flowering and fruiting features,
» distinctive characteristics,
» preferred geology and soil,
» likely habitats,
» distribution,
» response to fire; and
» propagation.» synonyms,
» rarity and significance (such as listing in the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act schedules); and any
» ethnobotany (human uses) recorded of the species.Imagery is given of 800 species in a page adjacent to the text.
Each genus is also covered with a separate page of text and imagery if available.
The disc is available at $109.50 (Australian) each.
Given that there are in excess of 4700 species, you are paying about 2 cents per species - now that's cheap in anyone's language! And there's a separate page for each of the 1250 genera also...
Navigation is easy, with the species listed in a number of indexes (by scientific name, by epithet, by common name and by synonym, and genera are listed in an alphabetic table covering all represented families). Manoeverability is the simple 'point and click' style with which you have become familiar from surfing the 'net.
The second edition has a Visual Basic program aboard which allows Windows 9x, WinNT or Win2000 users to interrogate the database in real time and get a list of species matching your requirements, or of likely species that match identification characters. It's better than a key, because you won't get caught by not having the information for any particular 'branch' of the key! You can save or print out lists for later use or for making plant selections more easily.
Annual upgrades to that year's edition will only cost registered users $50 if purchased within 6 months of being notified of its release. Each edition will have more imagery and updated text information. New editions will be released each year.
The Orchidopaedia series.
Volume 1 - The genera descriptions.
A series of framed pages presenting information about all the genera of orchids - some 919 in total.
Over 300 of the genera are given with at least one image - and often more to show variety or special features.
Each of the 919 genus text pages contains information about
All genera are fully cross referenced - where they are named on a page that name is a link to show the other genus.
A variety of indexes are provided, including by the accepted name and any synonyms, as well as by the relationships they show to each other, the form and habit, and the geographical region in which they occur.
Also, where an image is given for the genus, that image is given as a 100 pixel thumbnail image in the alphabetical index to let you see what it looks like.
The 700 hybrid genera ('intergenerics') are also presented, each in an individual page, with a link to each genus from which they are composed.
An extensive glossary is given, with cross references from the text, and all cited references are also cross referenced.
Navigation is easy, with the indexes listing all genera, and manoeverability is the simple 'point and click' style with which you have become familiar from surfing the net.
All this for only $80 (Australian) each. That's less than 10 cents per genus! Postage and handling are extra (see the order page for details).
© 1999