Parts 1 - The Compleat Botanica

Compleat Botanica - Tutorial Page 4: How is the software organized?
Using the software Getting started Tutorial
Data that you collect is recorded in specimen records where each record captures the details of a single species. (The sample
database provides a ready-made collection of many of the most important and useful plants grown for food, medicine and
beauty.)
Each record in the specimen list is identified by the all important
botanical name. This internationally recognized key to a species is
supplemented by the vernacular names that we frequently like to use.
Vernacular names are internally kept separate from specimen records.
This separation allows the list of vernacular names to be easily searched
for corresponding botanical names. It also handles two commonly
occurring problems: botanical names which are referred to by more than
one vernacular name, and similar sounding vernacular names which are
applied to different species.
The history of every botanical name can be tracked through a third list, the taxonomic checklist, which records the name of
the person who first identified the species and the publication in which its description was made. This taxonomic checklist
is organized hierarchically by family, genus, species, and so forth using twenty-three ranks spanning from kingdom down to
subspecies and including the horticultural rank of variety at the bottom.
These three lists, the specimen list, the vernacular name list, and the taxonomic checklist, are tightly linked within The
Compleat Botanica’s forms so that it’s easy to find and access related information throughout. Of the three, the specimen
list is by far the most important to you the user. This list is where all of the details of your area of interest will be recorded.