How to Search FloraBase

This is a general help page on querying the name, descriptive and specimen data available in FloraBase. This page covers the protocols of querying followed by a list and explanation of each query field.

Name Quick Search

In the top right-hand corner of each page on FloraBase is a small query box for speedy access to plant information based on any of family, genus, species, infraspecies, authors or common names. You don’t need to know what part of the name you might be querying on, just type it in and hit return or click on the ‘go’ arrow. For more specific searches where you can specify your query exactly, search the Flora of Western Australia. The search criteria are described below.

General Querying

Querying our databases through FloraBase takes two forms: that of selecting from drop down boxes eg. in the Flowering Time box or the Conservation Status box, and that of a textual query where the word or words specifically sought are typed into the text query box such as the Soil Type field.

Drop down boxes

Make your query choice from the available selection.

Textual query

Any single word in a long text field, eg. the Soil Type field, can be a query term without pattern matching being required, eg. typing red in this field would retrieve records containing red clay, or red sand etc.

Entering more than one word, eg. red loam will retrieve all records containing these terms; eg. shallow loam over red clay

To query for a specific string of more than one word, use quotation marks, eg. typing "red loam" to retrieve all records containing the contiguous terms red loam over laterite.

Mixed queries

These are allowed eg, to query for all taxa growing around granite outcrops, type granite in the Soil Type field and select outcrops from habitat drop down box.

Case

The text is case insensitive, eg. typing proteaceae or PrOtEaCeAe in the Family field will both return any records with Proteaceae in the Family field of our database.

Parentheses

Parentheses are not able to be used in formulating queries and should be ignored when formulating search criteria.

Quotes

Quotes allow you to specify a contiguous string of words for which you want to search. For example, enter "red loam" to retrieve all records containing the contiguous terms; eg. red loam over laterite, but not shallow loam over red clay

Using the asterisk

To find all species with the root march, enter march* in the Species field. This will retrieve species names including marchantii and marchantiorum.

If you are unsure of the correct spelling for a textual query, eg. laterite or lateritic, in the Soil type field, enter the root followed by an asterisk, eg. laterit* This will retrieve records for all the taxa with the words laterite or lateritic, etc.

Matching a word at the end of a line

To match a word occurring at the end of a line use the dollar sign ($), eg. to find all taxa published in 1811 enter 1811$ in the Reference field.

Excluding records from a search

Use the exclamation mark (!) to exclude certain records., eg. to find all taxa with the species name brownii not in the family Proteaceae enter !proteaceae in the Family field and brownii in the Species field.

Match error

In some cases an abbreviated query or a query using only one field may return a match error requesting more information.

Explanation of the query fields

Family: The plant’s family name
Genus: The plant’s generic epithet (name)
Species: The plant’s specific epithet (name)
Author: The name of the person who published the specific epithet of the plant
Infraspecies: The plant’s infraspecific epithet (name)
InfraAuthor: The name of the person who published the infraspecific epithet of the plant
Common name: The name commonly given to the plant
Name ID: The unique number given to the plant name by the Western Australian Herbarium
Informal: In FloraBase we track plant names that are yet to be formally published in the scientific literature. In this field you can choose to display taxa with manuscript names (ms) — names awaiting publication, or phrase names (pn) — recently recognised segregates, or all informal names (*)
Current: Indicates the currently accepted name for the species as decided by the Western Australian Herbarium. You can choose to display information about current, non-current or both
Alien: An alien plant is one not native to Western Australia, but may be cultivated or growing in the wild. This field returns data on native (no) or alien (yes) taxa or both (blank)
Status: Plant names that have a conservation status
Reference: The primary literature reference for the publication of the plant name
Photo: To query for taxa with associated images (see the photograph primer for more detail)
Flower colour: The colour of the flower as recorded by the collector
Flowers in: A range of months in which the plant is known to flower
Habit: The growth form of the plant
Habitat: Sites where the plant is found eg. dunes, winter-wet areas, disturbed land
Soil type: Including soil type (sand, clay, loam etc) soil colour and rock type (laterite, granite etc)
Northern: To search for plants occurring in regions of the Northern botanical province of Western Australia (see the mapping primer for more detail)
Eremaean: To search for plants occurring in regions of the Eremaean botanical province of Western Australia (see the mapping primer for more detail)
Southwest: To search for plants occurring in regions of the Southwest botanical province of Western Australia (see the mapping primer for more detail)
Collector: The name of the person who collected the specimen(s)
Coll. No.: The number the collector applied to the specimen
Sheet number: The barcode number applied to the specimen by the Western Australian Herbarium
Locality: The textual location of the specimen provided by the collector
State: The Australian state in which the specimen was found; TER is Other Territories, EA is extra-Australian
Origin: The acronym of the herbarium from which specimens originated
Duplicates: The acronym of herbaria which hold a duplicate of the specimen