FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Palmweb

What is Palmweb? 

How can I find general information about palms?

Who runs/manages Palmweb?

How was Palmweb set up?

What is the technology behind Palmweb?

Who funds Palmweb?

How do I cite content from Palmweb correctly?

How can I get involved or contribute to Palmweb?

Why are my requests for an account being ignored?

How do I use Palmweb?

How can I find out about a particular species on Palmweb?

How can I obtain an original publication for a specific taxon?

What is the ‘World Checklist of Monocotyledons’?

Where do the taxonomic names, synonyms and geographical information come from?

Beneath the distribution maps, what does TDWG mean?

How are the distribution maps generated?

I’ve found something I think is wrong/disagree with on Palmweb, what should I do?

Why isn’t there information for every species yet?

Why are there more than one block of text for some categories of information for a single taxon page – which is ‘correct’?

Why are some names missing or out of date on Palmweb?

Why does Palmweb not display specimen data, such as herbarium specimens or links to them?



What is Palmweb?

You can find out what Palmweb is by clicking here.

How can I find general information about palms?

There is general information about palms here, about palm classification here, and about the phylogeny of palms here.

Who runs/manages Palmweb?

Many people have participated in the development of Palmweb with multiple and varied contributions that have been essential to build and enrich this palm taxonomy portal. You can find out more here.

How was Palmweb set up?

Palmweb was developed as a part of the European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT), a project that aimed to facilitate access to taxonomic data and collaboration among taxonomists by taking advantage of Information Technology.

What is the technology behind Palmweb?

The database underlying Palmweb follows a data model called the Common Data Model (CDM) created by EDIT developers at the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum in Berlin. This database and the portal that delivers the Palmweb content are part of the Platform for Cybertaxonomy, a set of tools designed to aid taxonomists in doing their research. 

Who funds Palmweb?

Palmweb was originally funded and continues to be funded by European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT), and now continues through the EU FP7 Palms project, the eMonocot project, and the generous support of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Berlin-Dahlem, and Aarhus University.

How do I cite content from Palmweb correctly?

Palmweb is full of data and images from a wide range of sources, who have kindly given us permission to make their property available for all on this site. It is important that material is cited correctly if obtained and used in research, publications, presentations, other websites, etc. Please see here for details on how you can make sure that you cite content correctly.

How can I get involved or contribute to Palmweb?

Palmweb is a community endeavour and we welcome feedback and input from others. Please see here for more information on how you can get involved. You may also be interested in joining other palm-related groups with whom we work, as listed here.

Why are my requests for an account being ignored?

At the moment the personal accounts on Palmweb do not enable users to do anything they cannot do without an account, and so have no real function, therefore there is no need for users to request an account.

How do I use Palmweb?

To access a taxon page on Palmweb, browse the taxon tree or search for a scientific name, on the left side of the screen. The tree shows only currently accepted names. The advanced search allows you to search by name (scientific, common, accepted, synonym) and/or by geographical region. It is possible to search using synonyms using the search function.

How can I find out about a particular species on Palmweb?

You can use Palmweb to access taxon pages on Palmweb, by browsing the taxon tree or searching for a scientific name, using the tools on the left side of the screen. The tree shows only currently accepted names, but it is possible to search using synonyms using the search function. The advanced search allows you to search by name (scientific, common, accepted, synonym) and/or by geographical region.

On Palmweb you can find the following kinds of data/content:

  1. the current nomenclature and synonymy of palms
  2. morphological descriptions for over 40% of palm species and 100% of genera, with additional information where available on biology, ecology, conservation, uses, common names, specimen citations and other topics.
  3. distribution maps for all genera and species to TDWG (Taxonomic Database Working Group) level 3
  4. images for more than 30% of species
  5. a glossary of palm terms
  6. a bibliography
  7. interactive identification keys
  8. original places of publication for over 60% of accepted names
  9. quick search tools for exploring other databases such as Flickr, Google Images, Genbank, GBIF and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  10. protologues for many synonyms (although our focus is on compiling data for currently accepted taxa)

How can I obtain an original publication for a specific taxon?

We are working to upload pdfs or insert links to the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) for the original publications for every name (accepted and synonyms) in the family. We have completed this for over 60% of accepted names already, and where the publication (or link to it) is available you will see a small ‘document’ icon next to the name (below), which you can click on to open the publication in another tab.

What is the ‘World Checklist of Monocotyledons’?

The World Checklist of Monocotyledons a resource based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and is found here. The Checklist gives information on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of all 77 families of monocot plants. It allows you to search for all the scientific names of a particular plant, or the areas of the world in which it grows (distribution). The taxonomic information (accepted names, synonymy, places of original publication) in Palmweb was extracted from the Checklist when Palmweb was set up, along with the geographic distribution data stored in the Checklist.

Where do the taxonomic names, synonyms and geographical information come from?

Originally the taxonomic information (accepted names, synonymy, places of original publication) in Palmweb was extracted from the World Checklist of Monocotyledons, along with the geographic distribution data in the Checklist, and was used to create a separate page for every taxon. This forms the basis on which the rest of the site is built. We have since edited the Palmweb version of the Checklist by adding taxa, reducing some names to synonymy, and adding more geographic data, as more research is incorporated into the site.

Beneath the distribution maps, what does TDWG mean?

Beneath every distribution map is the statement ‘Map accurate to TDWG level 3 distributions’. TDWG is the Taxonomic Databases Working Group (now know as Biodiversity Information Standards) and is an international organisation who have established a range of data standards for use in biological/biodiversity data projects. One such standard is the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions which divides the world into geographical units as approximately ‘country’ level and upwards. There are four levels and level three (‘botanical country’ - which may often ignore purely political considerations) is used in the World Checklist of Monocotyledons and therefore here in Palmweb. Very large countries such as the USA are divided into smaller units, according to states or provinces. The distribution maps on Palmweb use the TDWG level 3 distributions as recorded in the World Checklist of Monocotyledons (and listed below each map).

How are the distribution maps generated?

The distribution maps on each taxon page are generated from the level 3 TDWG distributions recorded in the World Checklist of Monocotyledons (and listed below each map). It is important to note that additional geographic distributions recorded under ‘distribution’ on a taxon page, which are incongruent with the Checklist distributions recorded, will not be displayed on the map, the maps are solely based on the Checklist data. At this time we are unable to automatically generate the distribution maps from multiple sources of data.

I’ve found something I think is wrong/disagree with on Palmweb, what should I do?

Taxonomic decisions are not always unanimous and different opinions on which species is which and which are synonyms are part of the taxonomic process. You may find a species listed here as an accepted name, which you consider to be a synonym, or vice versa. We encourage healthy discussion and debate on such matters, and you may want to get in contact with us via the information here, or one contact of our partner organisations listed here.

Please let us know if you spot anything obviously wrong or have problems with the site, via the information here. If you own content which you would like to contribute or would be happy for us to use on Palmweb (images, literature), we would love to hear from you!

Why isn’t there information for every species yet?

We are working hard to get as much information available on Palmweb but have limited resources, so please check back frequently or get in contact if you are particularly interested in a group of taxa and we can see if we can prioritise particular groups according to need. We have a basic page for every taxon in our classification, with data from the World Checklist of Monocotyledons covering accepted name, synonymy, and geographic distribution. A distribution map is generated from the latter data. As we add more information and images, these will appear on the taxon pages. We also have a comprehensive page for every genus in the family, thanks to the extremely generous permission of Kew Publishing and the authors of Genera Palmarum 2.  We are working to update the classification used in Palmweb by using recent literature to add new names and new synonymy, so you may not find names published or completely up-to-date taxonomic information published the last two years.  

Why are there more than one block of text for some categories of information for a single taxon page – which is ‘correct’?

All data on Palmweb is from published literature, and is clearly referenced. Different literature sources may for instance focus on a taxon at a smaller geographic level (eg. in one country only) rather than globally, but will contain useful, important information on that taxon. Some literature sources may contain conflicting data. We have decided not to ‘choose’ between literature sources and pick a single source of information for each data category for a taxon. We feel that all published information is relevant and appropriate to be available on Palmweb. However, pragmatically, we are initially having to ‘choose’ which references we use depending on what we have available and permission to use, and which we feel are the most useful to make available to start with.  As Palmweb grows and develops, there will be more information on each taxon, from multiple reference sources, building a rich database bringing information together from a wide range of places.

Why are some names missing or out of date on Palmweb?

The classification used in Palmweb was originally imported from the World Checklist of Monocotyledons, and is now a little out of date in places. We are working to update the classification used in Palmweb by using recent literature to add new names and new synonymy, so you may not find names published or completely up-to-date taxonomic information published the last two years. Please be assured that these names will be added and changes made soon.

Why does Palmweb not display specimen data, such as herbarium specimens or links to them? 

At the moment we do not have a way of displaying specimen data on the site in a way that we are happy with. We do list 'material examined' for specific treatments cited on the site. We are gradually adding the details of type specimens to taxon pages under the synonym tab, and have a link to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility on the left hand side of the screen which will automatically search on the taxon name you are currently looking at and obtain all the specimen records from around the world currently in their system. We also have automatic search links to the Living Collections database at NYBG and the TROPICOS database (from which you can search a number of herbaria for specimens), and we’re looking into adding more resources like these to the site.