June 2005 Feature of the Month:

The Plants Database

Want to know more about that colorful plant sprouting up beside your street? Or do you want to browse images and characteristics of plants from around the continent?

Get to know the Plants Database from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) National Plant Data Center. Search by common or scientific name, or by conservation plant characteristics, or read about Federal and State threatened and endangered plants.

"The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. It includes names, plant symbols, checklists, distributional data, species abstracts, characteristics, images, plant links, references, crop information, and automated tools."

Violet. Click on the image to see a larger photo.
Photograph by Clarence A. Rechenthin
@ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database.

Virginia Creeper. Click on the image to see a larger photo. Robert H. Mohlenbrock @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA SCS. 1991. Southern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. South National Technical Center, Fort Worth, TX.

Trillium, growing in Guilderland, New York.
Click on the image to see a larger photo.
Photo by K. De Mers

Related Resources:

New York State Resources:

The New York State Museum Mycological Collections - Search the specimen database.
The New York State Archives Research Room, topic: Agriculture - Learn about agricultural records in the State Archives and around the state.
Search the subject "plants" in the New York State Library's catalog.
Selected Science Web Sites - part of the New York State Library's Internet Bibliographies.
Cornell Cooperative Extension - operates in all 57 New York State Counties, plus New York City. This site is useful for local info about gardening and agriculture.

Federal Government Resource:

Natural Resources Conservation Service - part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Other Resources:

The New York Botanical Garden
Brooklyn Botanical Garden
Native Plant Information Network - part of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Native Plants & Wildflowers

Suggest a Site!

Previously Featured:
May 2005: The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands explores the Dutch presence in America, which began in 1609 with Henry Hudson's explorations of Manhattan, Staten Island and the Hudson River. Between then and 1664 the Dutch established the colony of New Netherland in parts of what are now New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut.
April 2005: The New York State Health Department is now posting expanded information on nursing homes across the State. The expanded data, which comes from routine annual inspections of all 673 nursing homes statewide, will include more descriptive information about Medicare and Medicaid certification status, available services and accommodations, occupancy rates, and ownership and administration.
March 2005: Each year, Archives & Museum Informatics (Toronto) solicits nominations from the Museum community for their Best of the Web competition. Nominated sites are evaluated by a committee of peers.
February 2005: The Promising Practices Network Web site highlights programs and practices that credible research indicates are effective in improving outcomes for children, youth, and families. The information pertains to children from the prenatal period to age 18, as well as the families and communities in which they live.
January 2005: The New York Public Library created A Hudson River Portfolio to bring together rare images and texts from the 19th century and make them available to researchers and students, as well as lovers of Hudson River history and art. The Web site brings together some of The Library's most celebrated materials from the heyday of the Hudson River in the 19th century.

Archives of Previously Featured Sites

2004 Features | 2003 Features

2002 Features: Web Sites | Documents

2001 Features: Web Sites | Documents

2000 Features: Web Sites | Documents

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