What's new?

Keeping track of plant names and synonyms is a major challenge for most gardens. That is why we’re thrilled to announce this huge milestone to help you with your scientific names. The integration with Plants of the World Online (POWO) is now extended to include species, lower ranks, and synonyms.

Shared taxonomy is not just about name validation; it's about helping all users with a unified backbone and a taxonomic opinion. This means fewer errors, speedier data entry, and better data quality across the board.

From authorship being automatically derived, to a streamlined flow for recording new taxa, this feature represents significant changes to the way you can incorporate taxonomic data.

Here’s a closer look at what this release means for you:

• Shared scientific names expanded to include species and lower ranks (infraspecies) from POWO
• Updated taxon scientific name autocomplete to help match on new ranks
• Improved new taxon flow when creating a new accession
• Automatically derive or override a taxon’s authorship from a verified species or infraspecies
• Added new validation column to taxa tables with filtering on rank, status, and unvalidated
• All users’ existing taxa names have been validated (98.3% names validated to at least a genus, and 78.8% validated to a species level name)

Ever felt anxious deleting records, accidentally losing crucial data? We get it. That's why we added audit logs to Hortis early on, ensuring every change, even deletions, is securely stored. Now, you can easily review and restore needed records from your "trash" with the new "Site Trash Pages".

To use this feature, select "Site Trash" from the menu next to your site name in the navigation bar, or “Taxa Trash” from the menu next to your organisation name. This update ensures a more secure, manageable, and user-friendly experience in handling your unwanted records.

‍Improvements

• Improved login flow, reliability and speed
• Fixed issue when navigating between the organisation pages and collection site pages

Our new tables have all been enhanced with a number of new columns, filters and sorting options, to give you greater functionality when browsing your collection’s data.

• Taxa, accessions, and plant materials tables have been redesigned with a fresh layout
• Hide and show columns to customize your tables depending on your workflow
• Photos can now be viewed and filtered on in the materials table
• Materials overdue a follow-up can now be viewed and sorted
• Additional columns such as common name, tags and notes can be displayed
• Filter and sort on accession data such as provenance, and donor from the materials table
• + More filters, sorting and optional columns

Improvements

• Default table row count has been set to 25
• Pressing ⌘/Ctrl while clicking on table rows will open that record a new tab
• When returning to Hortis, you will be automatically directed to the last visited site
• The sidebar navigation has been reconfigured to display the last visited site as the default option
• Navigating back through a non-wild accession form will now exclude collection data fields

• ‍Improved genus validation in new accession input flow
• Fixed plant materials being incorrectly counted in search results
• Updated positioning of materials on the map so that users are navigated to the previous screen after changes are applied

Users now have suggestions of existing organisation donors/suppliers when creating and updating accessions. When filtering accessions, the suggestions are based on donors/suppliers from the current collection site.

Improvements

• Fixed an issue where certain filters were not applied when downloading CSVs
• Fixed an issue where 207 genera from Plants of the World Online were mistakenly associated with families from Catalogue of Life
• Updated some taxa that were assigned a synonym genus instead of an available accepted genus during the migration to shared taxonomy

Details around the taxonomic identification can now be recorded in new accession fields. These are designed to help institutions document the certainty of plant material identification, aligning with bioinformatics standards. You can opt-in to these fields using Site Settings.

• Add identification details when creating and updating accessions
• View identification qualifiers appended to the scientific name on accessions and associated plant materials

 Improvements

• Fixed an issue where accession collection data could not be removed

Users are now able to download selected records on both desktop and mobile. This sets up the framework for batch actions across the platform (such as updating and deleting records). This feature is especially handy when you need to export a specific subset of records after conducting searches or applying filters.

With integration to Plants of the World Online (POWO) for vascular plants and Catalogue of Life (COL) for non-vascular plants, our community can now access shared taxonomic data seamlessly. This allows users to utilise shared factual data, reducing the burden of individual input and maintenance, whilst making taxonomic referencing more efficient.

Details

• See details on genus status, family, and higher classifications on taxa records.
• Choose from a shared list of genera when adding new taxa.
• Filter by family on both list and map views for taxa specific to your site.
• Find family name within CSV downloads for materials, accessions, and taxa.

Improvements

• Resolved an issue blocking the creation of absent material during new accession entries.
• Taxa common names are now included in CSV downloads for plant materials and accessions.
• Switching sites via the navigation menu maintains your position on the same top-level page.

‍

Two new fields have been added to taxon records, allowing you to record a taxon description and natural distribution. The interpretation fields can be enabled/disabled from the Organisation settings page.

When downloading your taxa or plant material lists, the interpretation fields will be included – therefore helping you to create interpretation labels from your data.

Improvements

• Logging in from hortis.com now redirects straight to your organisation

Personalise your account by uploading your own profile picture, by navigating to the profile settings page. Admins can also upload custom logos for their organisation within the organisation Settings page.